KUALA LUMPUR — The continuous collection of location data by foreign navigation applications does more than reveal users’ daily routines, it could also be processed into strategic intelligence, potentially compromising national security and sovereignty.

Cybersecurity expert and former CyberSecurity Malaysia (CSM) chief executive officer Datuk Amirudin Abdul Wahab said navigation applications typically collect a wide range of data, including travel histories, timestamps, IP addresses, device sensor data and frequently visited locations.

He said that while individual data points might seem harmless, aggregating them over time can create detailed digital movement profiles that reveal users’ personal information, home addresses, workplaces, and movement patterns.

“This is where the concepts of data collection and inference become critical. For instance, a senior government official’s consistent movement from home to a ministry, security meeting venues, and airports can reveal insights into the individual’s role, professional network, and operational priorities.

“The risk becomes even more acute when this location data is combined with open-source information, such as an individual’s job title and organisational affiliation,” he told Bernama.

Amirudin said modern data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) could transform routine location data into actionable intelligence, potentially revealing meeting frequencies and the times civil servants enter or leave sensitive facilities.

On digital sovereignty and the implications of foreign laws governing applications such as Waze, he stressed that Malaysia did not need to reject all foreign technology.

Instead, the government must have a clear understanding of who controls the data, where it is processed and which legal jurisdictions apply, he said.