Apple introduces safety guide following concerns about AirTag stalkers
Apple has released an updated safety guide amid ongoing concerns over the company’s new AirTag devices.
The tech giant quietly released the safety portal on Monday, and the Personal User Safety Guide offers advice on how people can keep themselves and their data safe amid concerns about the AirTag.
The devices are designed to locate lost items using Apple’s ‘Find My’ network. They are small button-shaped items that can be attached to keys or a wallet.
However, there have been a number of reports that suggest the Tags have been misused to track people.
Apple’s new Personal User Safety Guide offers support for people who are “concerned about or experiencing technology-enabled abuse, stalking or harassment”. The guide says it offers “step-by-step” instructions on how users can protect themselves.
Its AirTags section shows users what to do if they are alerted to an unwanted AirTag – a notification that appears on the screen of an iPhone. It also highlights what to do if you hear or find an AirTag that doesn’t belong to you.
The handbook also shows Android users how they can download an app that will help alert users to rogue AirTags.
Jake Moore, the former Head of Digital Forensics at Dorset Police, and current Global Cybersecurity Advisor at software firm ESET, commented: “Producing a tracking tool for small non-electrical items will inevitably and unfortunately also fuel ideas for anyone wanting to track people.”
“Instead of having to purchase a more illicit tracking tool from an underground source, Apple have packaged this bright and cheap device and offered it to the masses in the hope it would not be abused. Sadly, there is huge scope for the AirTag to be abused and the antidote once again relies on potential victims having to check their own phones to see if there is a tracker in their vicinity which they should be aware of.”