[ad_1]
Security cameras from the United States of America monitor the registration plates of motor vehicles that cross the US-Mexico border from Tijuana (Mexico) in September 2016 in San Ysidro (California).
John Moore / Getty Images
hide legend
activate the legend
John Moore / Getty Images
Security cameras from the United States of America monitor vehicle registration plates when crossing the border between the United States and Mexico from Tijuana (Mexico) in September 2016 to San Ysidro ( California).
John Moore / Getty Images
The photos of travelers and their broken registration plates at a US border checkpoint were hacked, according to the Customs and Border Protection Agency.
Customs officials said in a statement Monday that fewer than 100,000 people photographed inside vehicles – as well as images of registration plates – had been taken while travelers were leaving the United States. specific routes to a single border post not specified. The images were captured by CBP over a six-week period.
The images ended up in the database of a government subcontractor that the hackers were able to penetrate, the agency said.
"The initial information indicates that the subcontractor has breached the mandatory security and confidentiality protocols outlined in his contract," CBP said in a statement.
Although the agency did not name the subcontractor, the news follows a report released last month on The Register's computer security website, according to which Tennessee-based Perceptics is supposed to be "the only supplier" of license plate readers at US border posts – had been hacked.
CBP, which states that it has learned the existence of the breach on May 31, says that none of the images had yet been broadcast on the Internet or Dark Web.
The American Civil Liberties Union, among others, is concerned about the lack of regulation of license plate reading cameras, according to which reader information "is collected and sometimes aggregated into regional sharing systems".
"As a result, huge databases of information on the whereabouts of innocent motorists are developing rapidly," wrote the Civil Liberties Group. "This information is often kept for years, if not indefinitely, with little or no restrictions to protect the right to privacy."
Electronic Frontier Foundation, which claims to defend civil liberties in the digital world, warns that "location information, such as license plate data, can be very revealing." By adapting your car to a time, date and a given place, then creating a database Over time, law enforcement can learn where you work and live, what doctor you are talking to, what religious services you are attending and who your friends are. "
[ad_2]
Source link