Mapping apps data security

[CJohnson]

I thought this was an interesting (and humorous) perspective on how safe all your OnX pins might be. I know it's been discussed here before that the people who work at OnX or the other companies have access to your pins, but I had never considered that they may have a data breach that would compromise your info.

https://fieldethos.com/field-and-da...EMAIL_ID]&mc_cid=2359fd3b99&mc_eid=068c0a903f

 

[5MilesBack]

I put OnX on my phone this year, but all my waypoints are on my GPS.

 

[khart_6882]

I don’t have a lot of fear of people stealing my waypoints. Especially since most of them are labeled “Hellacious hike: no animals”


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[CJohnson]

I'm not really afraid of it, but it would be interesting if all of their data was compromised and someone made a heat map of where people recorded tracks. Most of my waypoints are either labeled day/time or good poop spot.

 

[ORJoe]

Can't hack my GPS if my GPS is in my head

 

[Mt Al]

(strapping on my tinfoil hat tighter than usual)

zero data that's on the interwebs is 'safe' unless the company is deep into NIST800-171 and even then...I just don't see all our waypints as being particularly valuable.

I don't have OnX yet but will soon, and like 5 Miles Back above my waypoints are in my handheld GPS that only receives and doesn't send. This is just due to paranoia and trust issues.

 

[gabenzeke]

I keep waiting to hear someone like randy newburgs account was hacked. It's just a matter of time.

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[Andrew12gauge]

So the hackers steal all of OnX/basemap/Gaia etc’s data, now they have all of our waypoints. I’m not to worried about it, they are going to have to sift through a lot of pins. And a pin that says big buck or big bull can mean a lot of different things, to some a big buck is a 16” wide 3 point muley while others wouldn’t even mark a 180” buck. I guess what I’m saying is, stealing all those waypoints wouldn’t do them a whole lot of good.

As to the idea of a heat map website with everyone’s data and people filling up the trailheads at areas with the most pins and tracks, if a scenario like that were to happen I would be the guy using said heatmap to avoid everyone else and hunting the spots nobody is marking.


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[isItFallYet]

Another interesting article.

Private data hunter | Field Ethos

By Mike Zusman After sneaking uncomfortably close in perfect wind, I spent an eternity at full-draw staring at…

fieldethos.com