Access Logs – Underestimated Privacy Risks
Abstract
Access logs may offer service providers a lot of information about specific users. Depending on the type of the service offers, the operator is capable of obtaining the user’s IP, location, communication habits, device information and so on. In this paper, we analyze a sample instant messenger service that is operating for a certain period of time. In our sandbox, we gathered enough data to correlate user communication habits with their localization, and even contacts. We show how seriously metadata may impact the user’s privacy and make some recommendations about mitigating the quantity of data collected in connection with this type of services.References
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