AirTag-Facilitated Stalking Protection: Evaluating Unwanted Tracking Notifications and Tracker Locating Features
Dañiel Gerhardt
34th USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security '25) · Day 1 · Usable Privacy and Security 1
This talk, presented by Dañiel Gerhardt at USENIX Security, addresses the critical issue of Bluetooth location trackers, specifically Apple AirTags, being misused for stalking. While these small, affordable devices are designed to help users locate lost items like keys, their inherent real-time tracking capabilities make them a potent tool for non-consensual surveillance. Gerhardt's research evaluates the effectiveness of Apple's "anti-stalking features," which were introduced in response to a surge of online reports detailing AirTag misuse for malicious purposes.
AI review
Competent empirical security research with a clear public-safety angle — the 56% Android notification reliability finding is the one number worth remembering. Solid USENIX-tier work, but it's squarely a user-study paper dressed in security clothing, and the attack surface it covers has been on the radar since 2021.