They've helped themselves to what seems to be limitless legal power as well as a functionally infinite budget... and still this type of incident doesn't surprise us in the least. Everyone just expects them to be one of the least competent actors in the space. And they don't disappoint. Hmmm.
US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen
111–120 of 207 posts
Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen
#112Quote from the article:
“There should never have been the ability to download a database like this off of government servers.”
Sorry that I don't have a ton of links to support this claim, but "believe me" (as our Commander-in-chief would say) that the US Government would cease to function if it were not for subcontractors (read, private companies) performing tasks on behalf of the government. Personally, I don't agree with this way of our government doing business, but that is the way it is.
When I was in college, I worked for an archeology lab, and our lab was the subcontractor, of the subcontractor, of the contractor that had contracted to provide a service to the USACE (US Army Corps of Engineers). And every way along the way, money was skimmed off of the top. It's just "the American way" of doing business.
People lament regulation all the time. I have a feeling the executives of Ingersoll Rand love it every time a new regulation is put into place.
Follow the money.
Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The government is never held accountable for mistakes they make. In a functioning democracy "they" is "us".
We don't necessarily have a functioning representative democracy, though - too much power is held by lobbyists, the fact that politicians can lie to the population, and the fact that our votes don't 1:1 elect officials due to gerrymandering and voter suppression.
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Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen
#114I’ll just keep saying this, and getting dismissed by everyone I know - any data security discussion around a centralized data store that doesn’t begin with the recognition that that data store will be compromised, is a discussion that is just a joke.
You and a whole bunch of other people making the same extremely basic observation. It would be good if you would suggest some alternative strategies, since 'don't bother keeping that data' isn't a realistic option in this context.
sure it is! you don't need to keep a centralized photo db of every person who enters your country all in one place, even to build ML models on. This could have been federated in a variety of ways that would've reduced a breach risk.
Or, we could avoid building a massive surveillance network that doesn't help make our world better.
Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen
#115> “CBP learned that a subcontractor, in violation of CBP policies and without CBP’s authorization or knowledge, had transferred copies of license plate images and traveler images collected by CBP to the subcontractor’s company network,” said an agency statement.
How long will it take the general public and elected officials to understand that the only authorization that matters for digital data is the actual implementation. Policies, legalese, mandates or any other agreements are meaningless.
If the data can be get at from or transferred to outside of a controlled environment, it will.
Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen
#116The government is never held accountable for mistakes they make. They are, in fact, too big to fail.
> The government is never held accountable for mistakes they make. In a functioning democracy "they" is "us".
Which highlights one of the flaws in a first past the post democracy. No reasonable voter is going to make this issue the single issue that flips them from a Republican to a Democrat or vice versa. The result is that both parties don't really care about it. If you had some type of ranked or proportional voting system, you could get a niche political party that actually makes things like this a priority.
Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The government is never held accountable for mistakes they make. In a functioning democracy "they" is "us".
We don't necessarily have a functioning representative democracy, though - too much power is held by lobbyists, the fact that politicians can lie to the population, and the fact that our votes don't 1:1 elect officials due to gerrymandering and voter suppression.
Too much power is given to money and wealth. This has held true for thousands of years in Western civilisation (back in Ancient Greece, wealth was measured by output, the Pentekosiomedimnoi being the aristocrats).
The whole setup seems more and more like a grand cash grab.
Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen
#118> CBP’s networks were unaffected by the breach.
Why did citizens' private data leave CBP systems in the first place?
Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen
#119The amazing thing is we became aware of this practice back in early May. It is now June and it has been hacked.
Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen
#120According to the report, CBP is passing the buck on this one. They created policies that could be ignored. That’s on them. They shouldn’t be able to use their position to avoid accountability or to scapegoat their contractors (that they likely hired without due diligence). Government agencies should never be seen as victims. They hold power and authority that nobody else can hope to enjoy. There is no higher power to…
> They cannot absolve themselves of liability when they are invading everybody’s privacy. This is incorrect. They can absolve themselves of liability an act with impunity. You and I might not like that, but it is fact.
I accept it as fact insofar as it actually happens, and calling it a fact makes it immutable.
I think that giving the benefit of objectiveness makes it easier for them to continue down this path.