Tens of thousands of stolen images at the US border

Images of tens of thousands of people crossing the US border with Mexico have been stolen in major hacking, the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) said.

The offense, which affected the network of a subcontractor, also saw pictures of vehicle registration plates stolen, said CBP.

According to the report, fewer than 100,000 people were affected, according to the "initial reports".

He also contradicted claims that the image data had been shared on the dark Web.

"CBP has alerted members of Congress and is working closely with other law enforcement agencies and cybersecurity entities … to actively investigate the incident," added office.

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CBP uses cameras at airports and land borders as part of a growing facial recognition program designed to track people entering and leaving the United States.

The agency said that the breach subcontractor had stored the images on its systems without official consent and that CBP's own systems were not affected.

The images represented people in vehicles entering and leaving the country via a single point of entry at the border, which the CBP did not name.

He stated that no other identifying information – such as passport data or other photos of travel documents – had been compromised.

At the end of May, the technology information website The Register reported that images of license plates belonging to vehicles passing through CBP checkpoints had been shared on the dark Web. .

The agency, which learned the existence of the breach on May 31, said that no image data had been identified "on the dark web or on Internet".

US law enforcement agencies say facial recognition systems improve border security and help catch criminals.

But they are more and more afraid of violating privacy and increasing the risk of identity theft.

Senator Ron Wyden told the Washington Post: "If the government collects sensitive information about Americans, it is responsible for protecting them – and this is just as true if it contracts with a private company.

"Anyone whose information has been compromised must be notified by the customs, and the government must explain precisely how it intends to prevent this type of violation from occurring in the future."

Neema Singh Guliani, Senior Legislative Counselor at the American Civil Liberties Union, said: "This violation comes at a time when CBP is looking to expand its facial recognition device and its collection of sensitive information from travelers , including information on license plates and social media identifiers.

"This incident further highlights the need to curb these efforts and that Congress is investigating the agency's data practices."