The ad tech company is increasing surveillance of US military personnel
Last year, Media research Florida-based data broker DataStream Group has revealed it sells highly sensitive location data tracking US military and intelligence agents overseas. At the time, the origin of the data was unknown.
The letters sent to the office of U.S. Senator Ron Wyden are now obtained by an international media group, including wired media and 404 media, and the ultimate source of that data is not well known. It has revealed that Eskimi is an unprecedented advertising tech company in Lithuania.
Eskimi’s role highlights the opaque and interconnected nature of the location data industry. Lithuanian companies provide data on German US military personnel to Florida data brokers and can essentially sell that data to anyone.
“There is a global insider threat risk from some unknown advertising companies, and these companies have added this very sensitive data to brokers who sell this very sensitive data to government and private interests. By selling it, we are essentially destroying all of these systems,” says Zach Edwards. Senior threat analysts at cybersecurity firm Silent Push are referring to the ad tech ecosystem widely.
In December, a joint study by Wired, Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) and Netzpolitik.org analyzed a free sample of location data provided by DataStream. Research shows DataStream provides access to accurate location data from devices likely belonging to the US military and intelligence reporting agency, including German air force bases believed to store US nuclear weapons. It has become clear. DataStream is a data broker for location data history, procuring data from other providers and selling it to customers. The website previously said it provided “internet advertising data coupled with hashed emails, cookies and mobile location data.”
The dataset contained the 3.6 billion position coordinates logged in millisecond intervals from up to 11 million mobile ad IDs in Germany over a one-month period. Data may have been collected via SDKs (Software Development Kits) built into the mobile app by developers who knowingly integrate tracking tools in exchange for revenue sharing agreements with data brokers.
Following this report, Wyden’s office requested the DataStream Group to respond to its role in the trafficking of US military personnel location data. In response, DataStream identified Eskimi as its source and stated that it had obtained data “legally from Eskimi.com, a respected third-party provider.” Vytautas Paukstys, CEO of Eskimi, said, “Eskimi has no commercial relationship with the Datasys/Datastream group, or it has never been, or is another name that datastream has used so far, and Eskimi has said, “Data.” “I’m not a broker.”
In an email answering detailed questions from Reporting Collective, M. Seth Lubin, the attorney representing the DataStream group, explained that the data was legally procured from a third party. Lubin admitted to Wyden that the data was intended for use in digital advertising, but he emphasized that it was not intended to be reselled to the reporting group. Lubin cited its private agreement, refusing to disclose the source of data and dismissing the reporting group’s analysis as reckless and misleading.
The Department of Defense (DOD) refused to answer certain questions related to the investigation. However, in December, DOD spokesman Javan Rasnake said that Pentagon recognizes that geolocation services could put personnel at risk, and that he learned to train service members and was able to operate. They urged them to strictly adhere to security protocols.
In the email, Wyden’s Chief Communications Advisor and Associate Policy Director Keistu explained how his office tried to engage with Eskimi and the Lithuanian Data Protection Agency (DPA) for months. The office contacted Eskimi on November 21st and has not received a response, Chu says. Staff then contacted the DPA multiple times and raised concerns about the impact on the national security of Lithuanian companies selling location data for US military personnel serving overseas.” , Wyden staff contacted the Lithuanian Embassy in Washington, DC, to the defense addition.