A GPS tracker found under a vehicle in Berlin, Germany, in August 2022.
Covert location surveillance devices are electronic devices hidden by an adversary to collect location data.
An adversary typically hides covert location surveillance devices in or on a target's usual means of transportation, such as a car or bike.
Covert location surveillance devices need a way to determine their own location. They do this:
- Most often using GPS.
- In some cases, using alternatives to GPS such as GLONASS or satellite phone services.
- In rare cases, by emitting radio waves that are received by a nearby surveillance operator (typically in a vehicle following the target's vehicle).
Collected location data can be used as evidence in court. Non-incriminating, mundane location data can reveal a lot about the targets of surveillance and help in network mapping.
See Ears and Eyes and the “Hidden devices” topic.
Used in tactics: Incrimination
Mitigations
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Bug search | You can conduct a bug search to locate covert location surveillance devices and eventually remove them. |
| Physical intrusion detection | An adversary often needs to covertly enter the space where a vehicle is parked to install a covert location surveillance device on the vehicle. You can use physical intrusion detection to detect such a covert entry. |
| Transportation by bike | You can use a bike instead of any other type of vehicle: unlike other vehicles, when you conduct a bug search of a bike you can determine with a high degree of confidence whether or not a covert location surveillance device is installed on the bike. You should store the bike indoors to make it harder for an adversary to install a covert location surveillance device on it. |
Used in repressive operations
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Case against Boris | GPS tracking devices were placed under several vehicles after investigators learned that Boris — who did not have a driver license — was being transported in them[1]. In one case, investigators learned at 2:30 p.m. from an intercepted phone call that someone close to Boris was planning to borrow a vehicle and drive Boris to a party in the evening. They witnessed the vehicle being borrowed, followed it to the party, waited until it parked, and at 9:45 p.m. they had placed a tracking device on it. |
| December 8 case | A covert location tracker was installed on a vehicle used by Libre Flot[2]. |
| Bure criminal association case | Investigators installed a covert location tracker on a vehicle, where it remained for about a month[3]. |