CBP photo and license plate database hacked

[Chris0nllyn]

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said Monday that photos of travelers had been compromised as part of a “malicious cyberattack,” raising concerns over how federal officials’ expanding surveillance efforts could imperil Americans’ privacy.

Customs officials said in a statement Monday that the images, which included photos of people’s faces and license plates, had been compromised as part of an attack on a federal subcontractor.

CBP makes extensive use of cameras and video recordings at airports and land border crossings, where images of vehicles are captured. Those images are used as part of a growing agency facial-recognition program designed to track the identity of people entering and exiting the U.S.

Fewer than 100,000 people were impacted, said CBP, citing “initial reports.” The photographs were taken of people in vehicles entering and exiting the U.S. over a month and a half through a single land border entry port, which CBP did not name. Officials said the stolen information did not include other identifying information, and no passport or other travel document photos were compromised.

The official said Perceptics was attempting to use the data to refine its algorithms to match license plates with the faces of a car’s occupants, which the official said was outside of CBP’s sanctioned use. The official said the data involved travelers crossing the Canadian border.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/06/10/us-customs-border-protection-says-photos-travelers-into-out-country-were-recently-taken-data-breach/?noredirect&utm_term=.3b066afce14b

 

[glhs837]

Yep, nothing wrong with massive data harvesting and retention. What could go wrong? Plate scanners on a national level and the take from those face the same sorts of issues. Especially since so many places use contractors to gather and store data to bypass govt information retention limitations and stymie freedom of information requests.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

Yep, nothing wrong with massive data harvesting and retention. What could go wrong? Plate scanners on a national level and the take from those face the same sorts of issues. Especially since so many places use contractors to gather and store data to bypass govt information retention limitations and stymie freedom of information requests.

Not to mention it shows how the CBP is trying to downplay the issue. "Oh, it's no big deal, only 100,000 people. You don't need to know what border crossing though"

 

[This_person]

Almost as if our border protection services need to be better funded to handle all the tasks they've been given by law, but not funded to actually accomplish.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

Almost as if our border protection services need to be better funded to handle all the tasks they've been given by law, but not funded to actually accomplish.

How would giving more money to CBP stop 3rd party private contractors from being hacked?

 

[This_person]

How would giving more money to CBP stop 3rd party private contractors from being hacked?

Might make it so that CBP could verify sufficient anti-hacking capability, or not need the contractor and do it in house, or....

 

[Chris0nllyn]

Might make it so that CBP could verify sufficient anti-hacking capability, or not need the contractor and do it in house, or....

And they need more money to put cyber security measures/requirements in their RFP packages?

Mind you, CBP started in 2003 with a budget of $5.8 billion. In 2013 it was $10.3 billion. 2019 is $14.4 billion (Trump has called for thousands of new CBP agents despite CBP being unable to give an operational need for them).

FBI's FY2018 budget was $9 billion.

This doesn't sound weird to you? You advocating the govt. allocate more money on an agency that has seen it's budget almost triple in just 16 years because their contractor got hacked?

 

[This_person]

And they need more money to put cyber security measures/requirements in their RFP packages?

Mind you, CBP started in 2003 with a budget of $5.8 billion. In 2013 it was $10.3 billion. 2019 is $14.4 billion (Trump has called for thousands of new CBP agents despite CBP being unable to give an operational need for them).

FBI's FY2018 budget was $9 billion.

This doesn't sound weird to you? You advocating the govt. allocate more money on an agency that has seen it's budget almost triple in just 16 years because their contractor got hacked?

Well, what were we doing with detained people in 2003? 2013?

We know we need more people, because we know there are insufficient judges to get to the insane number of people illegally crossing the border, and we have to let these criminals out into society before we even know if they are safe - because that's what a completely stupid law says. We don't have anyplace to house the ones we do keep. We can't adjudicate who should stay and who should not. If we are catching upwards of 200,000 people per month, but we still have signs up saying there are corridors of entry we can't even come close to controlling so citizens should not go to those places, it's pretty obvious we need more folks.

Meanwhile, just because the RFP says something does not mean that we can afford to buy that thing, or the rest of what we need if we DO pay for the thing, or that we have anyone who will verify the ability of the contractor to provide and maintain the thing.

So, no, given the massive increases in illegal crossing due to years of incompetent executive action and legislative incompetence that doesn't properly support national security, I do not think increases in budget to do the job are "weird".

And, I see no comparable tasks of the FBI and Border Security. Did you know the budget for FY19 for the city of Chicago was about $5B?

 

[Chris0nllyn]

Well, what were we doing with detained people in 2003? 2013?

We know we need more people, because we know there are insufficient judges to get to the insane number of people illegally crossing the border, and we have to let these criminals out into society before we even know if they are safe - because that's what a completely stupid law says. We don't have anyplace to house the ones we do keep. We can't adjudicate who should stay and who should not. If we are catching upwards of 200,000 people per month, but we still have signs up saying there are corridors of entry we can't even come close to controlling so citizens should not go to those places, it's pretty obvious we need more folks.

Meanwhile, just because the RFP says something does not mean that we can afford to buy that thing, or the rest of what we need if we DO pay for the thing, or that we have anyone who will verify the ability of the contractor to provide and maintain the thing.

So, no, given the massive increases in illegal crossing due to years of incompetent executive action and legislative incompetence that doesn't properly support national security, I do not think increases in budget to do the job are "weird".

And, I see no comparable tasks of the FBI and Border Security. Did you know the budget for FY19 for the city of Chicago was about $5B?

In 2003 they were apprehending twice as many people with 1/3 the budget. (931,557 total apprehensions in 2003, 420,789 in 2013, 404,142 in 2018)
https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2019-Mar/bp-total-apps-fy1925-fy2018.pdf

It's not an "insane number of people", it's typical (and has been for decades) and even if it approaches, say, 1,000,000 apprehensions, that's the same number of people apprehended in the 80's.

Now that wer'e back to the topic, the RFP would require comapnies to follow the requirements of the proposal. Spare me the "we can't afford it" because clearly we can and asking a company to have cyber security requirements is something many, many companies have in place already. This is not a product. This is a system in place the protects the company, the CBP, and all the surreptitious data they collect (and by extension, the individuals that make up that data).

"Massive increases" statement is not rooted in any sort of fact or data, and while this year is higher than recent years (likely because of Mexico's growing economy) it's clearly not a number that CBP hasn't seen before with WAY less money to carry out enforecment.

CBP disagrees that "we need more folks" as they couldn't even find enough jobs for them to justify adding more agents.

By "weird" I mean being a conservative who is advocating for more money to go to a metastasizing governmental agency.

 

[This_person]

In 2003 they were apprehending twice as many people with 1/3 the budget. (931,557 total apprehensions in 2003, 420,789 in 2013, 404,142 in 2018)
https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2019-Mar/bp-total-apps-fy1925-fy2018.pdf

It's not an "insane number of people", it's typical (and has been for decades) and even if it approaches, say, 1,000,000 apprehensions, that's the same number of people apprehended in the 80's.

What were we doing with those people back then? What did it cost?

Now that wer'e back to the topic, the RFP would require comapnies to follow the requirements of the proposal. Spare me the "we can't afford it" because clearly we can and asking a company to have cyber security requirements is something many, many companies have in place already. This is not a product. This is a system in place the protects the company, the CBP, and all the surreptitious data they collect (and by extension, the individuals that make up that data).

That's very much like saying, "every car has a radio, and asking for a decade of Sirius XM and a 19 disc CD changer is no different cost or expectation on the company than to ask for an AM/FM radio".

It costs to do it better. Either more money needs spent on this service/product/capability, or that money is spent elsewhere, or that money is saved. chances are, they skimped on this product/service/capability, or, on the auditing of it, to put the money elsewhere.

"Massive increases" statement is not rooted in any sort of fact or data, and while this year is higher than recent years (likely because of Mexico's growing economy) it's clearly not a number that CBP hasn't seen before with WAY less money to carry out enforecment.

More people are coming to the United States because of Mexico's growing economy? Explain, please.

CBP disagrees that "we need more folks" as they couldn't even find enough jobs for them to justify adding more agents.

By "weird" I mean being a conservative who is advocating for more money to go to a metastasizing governmental agency.

I am for putting taxpayer funds where the constitution authorizes and not where it doesn't. I'd gladly give all of the Dept of Education's budget to this, and all of HUD's to defense, since neither of those two agencies are authorized by the constitution, and both of the recipients ARE authorized.