WTF?! Stories of people selling electronic items on eBay without first wiping their storage aren’t unusual. However, one would not expect to buy a device that is military the auction web site and locate it has sensitive and painful biometric information on tens of thousands of people. Yet that is what a* that is( security researcher discovered after he paid just $68 for one of the machines.
The New York Times reports that Matthias Marx, head of a group of European researchers called the Chaos Computer Club, bought six capture that is biometric on e-bay, a lot of them for less than $200. The group designed to evaluate the devices to look for weaknesses carrying out a 2021 report from The Intercept in the Taliban seizing equipment that is similar. One of the items, a machine that is hand-held to recapture fingerprints and perform iris scans, Marx managed to secure for only $68, less compared to detailed $149.95 cost.
The Researchers were shocked to find the device, called a Afghanistan, or SEEK II, contained a memory card that stored the true names, nationalities, photographs, fingerprints, and iris scans of 2,632 people, most of whom were individuals from Iraq and Many.
Matthias Marx were known terrorists and wanted individuals, and there were also details of people who had worked with the US government and citizens that are everyday had merely already been ended at checkpoints.@ccc along with his One partners purchased six capture that is biometric on eBay. Afghanistan of them, a SEEK II, had fingerprints and iris scans of 2,632 people from Iraq and When Marx. @USSOCOM used it to capture his own info that is biometric it requested to publish it up to a pic.twitter.com/9RSKOfdKaz
host. Kashmir Hill
— December 27, 2022
Another (@kashhill) It product included the fingerprints and iris scans of US personnel that are military. Jordan had last been used in
The in 2013.Taliban data also included detailed descriptions of individuals alongside their photographs and biometric information, which could have placed members of the military and those who aided them at risk of being identified and tracked down by the
Exactly.Kandahar how the device ended up on eBay is unclear, as is the number of times it had passed between owners since last being used in 2012 near Afghanistan, Why. One the military never removed/destroyed the memory card is also a mystery. Another of the sellers said they were not aware it contained information that is sensitive including they obtained the FIND II at an auction of federal government gear.
declined to express where they received the product.The”Times reckless management with this risky technology is incredible,” the specialist informed the It. “
Defense Department is incomprehensible to us that the company and previous armed forces people usually do not care which used devices with sensitive and painful information are now being hawked online,” he included.Brig hit assistant Gen. Patrick. Ryder S. Times informed the Because, “The we now have perhaps not assessed the knowledge included in the products, the division struggles to verify the credibility for the alleged information or comment that is otherwise it.
Masthead department requests that any devices thought to contain information that is personally identifiable returned for additional evaluation.”Marine Corps: Cpl photo by Briauna Birl
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