Foreign-Built Code Found in Apps Marketed to U.S. Service Members

A recent examination of hundreds of mobile applications marketed toward U.S. military personnel identified that more than one in eight contained software built by companies in China, Russia, or other foreign nations. The investigation, conducted by researchers at Purdue University, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and Florida International University, highlighted that a popular app used by service members to rate base living conditions includes code from Huawei, the Chinese telecom firm flagged as a national-security threat in 2020. Two additional apps were built by Russian companies and incorporate the Russian ad service Yandex.

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The largely unregulated digital-advertising industry treats civilians and service members alike, unless profit motives dictate otherwise. Prior WIRED reporting has shown that ordinary location-tracking apps can reveal service members’ homes, children’s schools, and off-base locations where troops are prohibited from being seen. Experts warn that such data could enable foreign spies to identify personnel with access to sensitive sites, map facility guard schedules, or expose other compromising details.

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• Apps examined: “hundreds” (exact number not specified).

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• Foreign-code prevalence: “more than one in eight” apps contained code from China, Russia, or other foreign nations.

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• Specific foreign components: Huawei code in a base-rating app; Russian-built apps using Yandex ad services.

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In April, US Central Command acknowledged in a letter to Senator Ron Wyden that it had received multiple threat reports of adversaries exploiting commercial location data to target or surveil American personnel in the Middle East, where U.S. forces remain locked in a standoff with the Iranian military over the Strait of Hormuz. Lawmakers described this as the first official confirmation that troops in an active war zone were being hunted through the data-broker economy.

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Security experts have long cautioned that the data-broker economy could be weaponized against U.S. forces. The recent findings revive calls for tighter regulation of apps marketed to service members and for greater scrutiny of foreign-origin code in software that could expose troop movements and sensitive installations.

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Verbatim Quotes

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• “more than one in eight contained software built by companies in China, Russia, or other foreign nations, raising fresh concerns that adversary governments could harvest data revealing where service members live, work, and deploy.” — WIRED investigation

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• “One popular app used by service members to rate living conditions on their own bases include code from Huawei, the Chinese telecom that US regulators flagged as a national security threat in 2020.” — WIRED investigation

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• “Two others were built by Russian companies and incorporate the Russian ad service Yandex.” — WIRED investigation

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• “In April, US Central Command acknowledged in a letter to Senator Ron Wyden that it had received multiple threat reports of adversaries exploiting commercial location data to target or surveil American personnel in the Middle East.” — WIRED investigation

Wired Magazine

• “Lawmakers called it the first official confirmation that troops in an active war zone were being hunted through the data-broker economy.” — WIRED investigation

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