01-06-2022, 06:16 AM
I recently put my bike up for sale on cycletrader. I am sure many people on this forum have also tried to sell their bike on cycletrader. There is a major security threat present on their website.
The major security threat has to do with the photos you post of your bike. Whenever your phone takes a picture it embeds data INTO the photo file. This data is sometimes called meta data and/or exif data. This data can store all sorts of information. The information includes the phone you use, time and date in addition to other information. It also records your location at the time of capture.
If you have been keeping track of the insurrection on this date last year you can find many stories about the idiots posting pictures, which includes this data. This is one way of finding them.
What does this have to do with cycletrader? Well, as I mentioned that location data in your photo is posted as well. It is not stripped from the image as Instagram or Facebook does when you upload a photo.
Finally, if I go to a post on cycletrader, say this post…
https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/2014...5018469556
I can download a photo and search google for exif data. Find a website that will read that data, and show me where the picture was taken. This means that I can normally find where people live. I am not a fan of people getting that data so easily.
There are tools that will strip exif data from photos. You can get apps for your phone that can help you with removing this extra data before you post your photos. Below are some sites that explain what I am writing about:
https://photographylife.com/what-is-exif-data
https://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/...386546443/
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/file...-file.html
And then for people who want to see exif data in use here is this site.
https://projects.propublica.org/parler-capitol-videos/
The major security threat has to do with the photos you post of your bike. Whenever your phone takes a picture it embeds data INTO the photo file. This data is sometimes called meta data and/or exif data. This data can store all sorts of information. The information includes the phone you use, time and date in addition to other information. It also records your location at the time of capture.
If you have been keeping track of the insurrection on this date last year you can find many stories about the idiots posting pictures, which includes this data. This is one way of finding them.
What does this have to do with cycletrader? Well, as I mentioned that location data in your photo is posted as well. It is not stripped from the image as Instagram or Facebook does when you upload a photo.
Finally, if I go to a post on cycletrader, say this post…
https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/2014...5018469556
I can download a photo and search google for exif data. Find a website that will read that data, and show me where the picture was taken. This means that I can normally find where people live. I am not a fan of people getting that data so easily.
There are tools that will strip exif data from photos. You can get apps for your phone that can help you with removing this extra data before you post your photos. Below are some sites that explain what I am writing about:
https://photographylife.com/what-is-exif-data
https://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/...386546443/
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/file...-file.html
And then for people who want to see exif data in use here is this site.
https://projects.propublica.org/parler-capitol-videos/