Location data firm Gravy Analytics has suffered a significant data breach, potentially compromising the sensitive personal information of millions of users. Cybercriminals claim to have stolen 17 terabytes of data, which includes customer lists, industry information, and precise location data harvested from smartphones. The hackers are threatening to publish the stolen data. Gravy Analytics, a company specializing in location intelligence, collects sensitive phone location and behavior data, often selling it to various entities, including the U.S. government. This incident highlights the potential risks associated with data brokers that gather and sell personal information.
The stolen data includes granular location data showing people's movements, and information on 3455 apps used to collect that data. The breach has heightened concerns amongst privacy advocates, who fear that the exposure of such sensitive information could lead to various risks such as deanonymization and tracking concerns, especially for high-risk individuals. This data breach at Gravy Analytics, which has been sued by the FTC for collecting this data without consent, could mark a turning point in how the location data industry is perceived, raising questions about the security and ethical practices of these companies.