Pair of researchers have found that Apple iPhones

A pair of researchers have found that Apple iPhones and iPads track users' locations and store the data in an unencrypted file on the devices and on owners' computers.

The data, which appears to have been collected starting with iOS 4, which Apple released last summer, is in a SQLite file on iPhones and iPads with 3G capability, said Pete Warden, the founder of Data Science Toolkit and a former Apple employee, and Alasdair Allan, a senior innovation fellow at the University of Exeter.

The same file

The same file, named "consolidated.db," is as well stored in the iOS backups made by iTunes on the Mac or Windows PC used to synchronize the iPhone or iPad.

Stored in the file in clear text are locations' longitude and latitude, a timestamp and other information, including Wi-Fi networks in range of the device.

The data may be hard to extract remotely from an iPhone or iPad, however not impossible, said Charlie Miller, a noted Mac and iPhone vulnerability researcher, and a four-time winner at the Pwn2Own hacking contest .

The location file on an iPhone remotely

To view the location file on an iPhone remotely, an attacker would have to exploit a pair of vulnerabilities, one to hack Safari -- likely by duping the user into visiting a malicious site -- at that time another to gain access to the root directory, Miller said. That's possible, however unlikely for most criminals.

Instead, he said the biggest threat was if a person lost his or her iPhone, or it was seized by authorities. "If you lose it, or it's taken when you're crossing a border, say, at the time the data is accessible," said Miller.

Allan echoed Miller in the video. "If you lose your phone, at the time all your movements for the last year are on that phone, and can be taken off," said Allan.

Graham Cluley, a senior security senior innovation consultant with U.K.-based security company Sophos, pointed out that the backup file on a PC or Mac as well poses a risk. "If you're not around, someone else can access the information on your home or work computer," said Cluley.

Running Warden's and Allan's Mac app displays where an iPhone has been since it was upgraded to iOS 4.

According to Warden and Allan, there's no sign that the data is being transmitted to Apple, or leaving the iPhone, iPad or synchronizing computers.

"I just don't see any upside to this," said Miller, pointing out that people will trade off privacy for some obvious benefit. "This doesn't make my life easier, or the iPhone any cooler," said Miller.

Cluley concurred, and added that the news will likely shock many iPhone owners. "Most users would not expect their iPhones to be doing this," said Cluley, "and they'd have a right to be upset."

"I think things tend not to be conspiracies, however are more often cock-ups, accidents that happen," Cluley said. "It may be that one hand of Apple doesn't know what the other hand is doing."

Warden and Allan have published an FAQ about their iPhone data location findings, and the Mac OS X application that displays a device's location history, on the GitHub development repository.

"Why this data is stored and how Apple intends to use it -- or not -- are important questions that need to be explored," said Warden and Allen

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general innovation breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His e-mail address is gkeizer@computerworld.com .

Internet Bandwidth is a finite and expensive resource, however analysis shows that companies can lose around a quarter of it to misuse. Protect bandwidth from spammers, criminals, hackers, time-wasters and employee misuse - read on