Microsoft has restricted access to an online database of wi-fi location data after a security researcher was reported to have used the database to track the location history of a laptop using the database and information stored on the laptop. Microsoft's database is similar to a database maintained by Google that had restrictions placed on it earlier this year.
Both companies have compiled databases of wi-fi router MAC addresses and location information for their respective geolocation services. They have created these databases using fleets of vehicles that drive around looking for wi-fi routers, determining the MAC address they broadcast and the GPS location of that router. Google and Microsoft also use smartphone applications that log the same information. If a user wants to determine their location with a smartphone, it can use the MAC addresses of wi-fi routers within range to look up a location in either company's database.
These practices have raised serious security concerns about the ability of users to access Google or Microsoft's location data to track an unsuspecting third-party. For instance, Google restricted access in June after a report of a user being tracked with the data from Google simply by querying the MAC address of their laptop or smartphone. In this most recent scenario a researcher compiled a location history from a laptop using the Microsoft database and the history of wi-fi networks the laptop connected to that was stored in the laptop.
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