CAUTION to Military Public Affairs
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08 December 2012
US Navy image with GPS data embedded
Military photographers sometimes forget to turn off the camera GPS. The Navy caption for this electric image is found on Flickr:
Lightning flashes near USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
U.S. 5TH FLEET AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (Nov. 19, 2012) Flashes of lighting are seen over the horizon as the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) operates in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. Dwight D. Eisenhower is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and support missions for Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Greg Linderman/Released) 121119-N-DO751-004
Flickr LINK to this image
The aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower is the lower red pin.
The Navy uploaded the image to Flickr using a Mac.
Using my iPad, I tapped the photo on Flickr to download the image. Tap “Places” (under Photo button), and the map displays.
It took five taps and about ten seconds to find the location of the aircraft carrier. This is convenient for the Iranians, providing them with snippets, including a partial inventory of the aircraft on deck.
The military posted this image on Flickr.
Five taps on my iPad, and the GPS shows that the jets are the upper red pin. Lower pin is the Eisenhower.
That is all.
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Comments
The GPS function can be turned off, or the location info can be scrubbed from the image with an editing program after the fact. In this case, neither was done, and the Navy's own Public Affairs Officer published a pretty lightning photo that reveals to the world the exact location, give or take a few meters, of one of our best military assets.
It may be suicidal for Iran to attack such an asset, but Iran's president has publicly stated his willingness to take his country down in flames just to make a point.
The far aircraft is a USAF F-22.
Thanks for what you do. I always look forward to your stuff!
From simple observation it was easy to determine that most responsible authorities (COs, OICs, NCOICs, etc.) don't bother reading or understanding the existing (out-of-date) instructions, much less think about newly arrived technology - and very few indeed actually think of the implications of future development.
The kinds of Privacy Act, For Official Use, and higher classified information - - or information which could be used to derive the same - which could be used to compromise security or determine intents and capabilities was posted *everywhere.* Networks were poorly secured, if they were secured at all, and systems were treated cavalierly as a general habit.
Nothing much, it seems, has changed.
By the way, I am very impressed by the technological knowledge of your readers. As an old grunt, I wouldn't know anything after the F-15s (my favorite!) and the F-16s.
Bet on 'apathy/stupidi ty/ignorance' before you bet on 'cunning.'
The F-35 has yet to be deployed with only one aircraft delivered to the Marines in November 2010.
Yon has become completely irrelevant which is really sad.
Yup.
"Yon has become completely irrelevant which is really sad."
Nope.
Ike's kinda big, there are very few secrets about her location in real time.
SO: No harm, no foul, but a *seriously* teachable moment thanks to Michael.
Good job yet again MY!
Good thing he's no longer deployed....
This administration is saying and doing a lot more these days to minimize our national security and put our people in harms way with no consequences.
So, what's wrong if the Navy wants to post a photo, even with geo-tagged data attached, about a ship's track in international waters, MONTHS after the fact?
Everybody calm, please.
Why do you assume that someone assumed? :)
That is an impressive lightning shot though. Especially if it was taken from a smartphone, which to my knowledge don't have the shutter speed to capture lightning like that. So if it wasn't taken from a smartphone... Was the GPS info deliberately embedded into the image? Perhaps the Navy wants to let Iran know we are there. However, we've had a carrier stationed in the Persian Gulf since 1991. So I really doubt Iran isn't aware of this.
most quality digital cameras have the GPS feature, not just smartphones.
This danger is not anything new, but somebody seems to have forgotten it.
In these particular pictures the data may not be that important, but I see Facebook and Flickr pictures from all kinds of people. Many with EXIF and GPS data intact. THOUSANDS of pictures.
One picture may not be a big deal, but thousands of pictures are. With GPS data and enough identical items in pictures from various sources, you can already build a panorama type view of a base, inside a building, whatever you'd like.
Scary? See PhotoSynth and Imaage Composite Editor(ICE) from Microsoft, both freely available and already being used.
PhotoSynth: http://photosynth.net
Microsoft ICE: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/ice/
Maybe take a stroll around the Kandahar Boardwalk? Not hard to do.
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