Final answer:
Contextual authentication uses a variety of user data points, such as location, device, behavior, and time of access, to make security decisions. Metadata also provides insight into user patterns and can potentially be used to trace activities back to individuals.
Step-by-step explanation:
The concept referred to in the question is contextual authentication. This security measure uses data about users to make decisions on whether they should be granted access to a system. It can involve a variety of factors, such as geographic location, the device being used, the time of day, and behavioral patterns. For example, if a user always logs in from a certain location during specific hours, login attempts outside of these parameters might be flagged as suspicious.
Companies like streaming services have leveraged similar approaches by analyzing users' past viewing habits to predict what shows or movies they might want to watch next. Governments and businesses might use metadata- details about communications such as time, sender, recipient, and location- to assess patterns in behavior. Though this metadata is collected without the content of the communications, it can still reveal a lot about what a user is doing and potentially be traced back to them.