Exploiting Facebook Traffic in the Passive Environment to Obtain Specific Information

Document Date: May 18, 2014
Release Date: May 18, 2014
Agency: Press
Records Collected: Internet Metadata, Location Information, Internet Content

GCHQ slides describing methods of obtaining intelligence from Facebook traffic - through a process that exploits inherent weaknesses in Facebook's security model - to gain information about a given user, such as photographs, pattern of life, and location. The slides also introduce a proposed program, Thieving Magpie, which uses in-flight mobile phone services to track airplane flights.