**Webloc** has been attributed to use by Hungarian domestic intelligence, the national police in El Salvador, and several U.S. law enforcement and police departments, according to a report by **Citizen Lab**. The tool was developed by Israeli company **Cobwebs Technologies** and is now sold by its successor **Penlink** after the two firms merged in July 2023. **Penlink**, founded in 1986, provides mission-critical communications and digital evidence collection and analysis software to law enforcement agencies globally. ### U.S. Customers U.S. customers of **Webloc** include **Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)**, the U.S. military, Texas Department of Public Safety, DHS West Virginia, NYC district attorneys, and various police departments in Los Angeles, Dallas, Baltimore, Tucson, Durham, and in smaller cities and counties like the City of Elk Grove and Pinal County. ### How Webloc Works "**Webloc** is sold as an add-on product to the social media and web intelligence system Tangles," **Citizen Lab** researchers said. "**Webloc** provides access to a constantly updated stream of records from up to 500 million mobile devices across the globe that contain device identifiers, location coordinates, and profile data harvested from mobile apps and digital advertising." The ad-based surveillance system uses data purchased from mobile apps and digital advertising to analyze the behaviors and movements of hundreds of millions of people. **Cobwebs Technologies** officially announced it in October 2020, describing it as a cutting-edge location intelligence platform that gathers and analyzes web data fused with geospatial data points, using interactive layered maps to connect the digital world with physical data. Customers can use the tool to monitor the location, movements, and personal characteristics of entire populations up to three years in the past. **Webloc** can be used for "investigating and interpreting location-based data to support your cases" and can infer location from IP addresses and identify the persons behind the devices by gathering their home addresses and workplaces. ### Meta's Ban and Connections to Quadream Interestingly, **Cobwebs Technologies** was among the seven cyber mercenaries that were deplatformed by **Meta** in December 2021 for operating about 200 accounts to conduct reconnaissance on targets and even engage in social engineering to trick people into revealing personal information.  The social media giant revealed at the time that it had identified **Cobwebs Technologies** customers in Bangladesh, Hong Kong, the United States, New Zealand, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Poland. **Meta** noted frequent targeting of activists, opposition politicians, and government officials in Hong Kong and Mexico. Reports have revealed that **Webloc** can be used to track phones without a warrant, highlighting its "ability to automate and continuously monitor unique mobile advertising IDs, geolocated IP addresses, and connected devices analysis." An analysis of corporate records and other public information has revealed that **Cobwebs Technologies** shares links to Israeli spyware vendor **Quadream** through Omri Timianker, the founder and former president of **Cobwebs Technologies**, who now oversees **Penlink**'s international operations. The company is suspected to have shuttered its operations in 2023. ### Server Locations As many as 219 active servers associated with **Cobwebs** product deployments have been identified, most of which are located in the U.S. (126), Netherlands (32), Singapore (17), Germany (8), Hong Kong (8), and the U.K. (7). Potential product servers have also been detected in various countries across Africa, Asia, and Europe. ### Penlink's Response Responding to the report, **Penlink** said the findings "appear to rely on either inaccurate information or a misunderstanding about how we operate, including practices that **Penlink** does not engage in following our acquisition of **Cobwebs Technologies** in 2023." It also said it complies with U.S. state privacy laws. **Citizen Lab** stated that their "research shows that intrusive and legally questionable ad-based surveillance (i.e., without a warrant or adequate oversight) is being used by military, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies down to local police units in several countries across the globe."