Dutch Naval Ship Tracked with Hidden Bluetooth Tracker in Postcard
A journalist successfully tracked a Dutch naval vessel by concealing a Bluetooth tracker inside a postcard mailed to the ship. The incident exposed potential vulnerabilities in naval security protocols and has prompted a ban on electronic greeting cards aboard Dutch ships.
A recent incident highlights the potential security risks posed by readily available tracking technology. A Dutch journalist, **Just Vervaart**, working for **Omroep Gelderland**, demonstrated how easily a naval vessel could be tracked by embedding a **Bluetooth** tracker within a postcard.
According to a report, Vervaart followed instructions available on the Dutch government website and mailed the postcard to the ship. This allowed him to monitor the ship's movements for approximately 24 hours, observing its journey from Heraklion, Crete, towards Cyprus.
While the tracking was limited to a single vessel, the implications are significant. Knowing the location of a ship within a carrier strike group operating in the Mediterranean could potentially compromise the entire fleet.
Naval officials detected the tracker during mail sorting within 24 hours of the ship's arrival and subsequently disabled it. As a result of this incident, Dutch authorities have implemented a ban on electronic greeting cards, which, unlike packages, were not previously subjected to X-ray screening before being brought onboard.