Data stored in digital photographs can help criminals locate individuals and plot real-world crimes, a practice two researchers called "cybercasing" in a recently published paper. The site Pleaserobme.com was one of the first to expose the problem by displaying tweets tagged with location information, although it has since stopped the practice.

But may we offer, perhaps, a simple fix to address some of these concerns: don't post your vacation photos until after you return home and don't Twitter about it while there. Simple steps like these could go a long way into protecting your home and valuables from being "cybercased" by any tech-savvy thieves.

This article aims to raise awareness of a rapidly emerging privacy threat that we term cybercasing: using geo-tagged information available online to mount real-world attacks.