Webloc ad based tracker watched 500 million devices worldwide

According to Citizen Lab, the Webloc surveillance tool tracked up to 500 million devices globally by tapping into advertising data to support law enforcement investigations in the United States, Hungary, and El Salvador. Developed by Cobwebs Technologies and now sold by Penlink, Webloc is used by agencies including ICE, the military, and various police departments, with Cobwebs connected to the spyware vendor Quadream and products such as the Tangles intelligence platform.

The researchers describe Webloc as an intrusive ad-based geolocation system that relies on data from mobile apps and digital advertising to collect device identifiers, geolocation, and behavioural traits, enabling large‑scale tracking and geofencing. Cobwebs’ infrastructure reportedly includes hundreds of servers across 25 countries, many hosted on Microsoft Azure, with evidence of a broad deployment including Cisco-linked patterns around “Webloc” and related tools like Trapdoor.

The report emphasises serious privacy and civil liberties concerns, urging stronger oversight and clearer data safeguards amid claims of limited transparency from authorities and vendors.