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US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen

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Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen

#191

Post by camelite »

txcwpalpha wrote: post #79
doctor_eval wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel that your thesis is broken by definition: if there is such a small pool of people with this level of experience - so small that they are worth the money and are super difficult to replace - shouldn’t they have already made all their mistakes? Isn’t the board, by definition, paying for people who have a very high chance of making good decisions?

> shouldn’t they have already made all their mistakes? Is there some finite limit of mistakes that humans make over their lifetimes? In fact, it would be the opposite - those who are making more decisions are by definition likely to make more wrong decisions, as compared to someone who doesn't make as many decisions. > Isn’t the board, by definition, paying for people who have a very high chance of making good decisi…

> Yes, which is why the salaries for such positions are often so high.

The demonstrable lack of financial repercussions for failure, which you are arguing is justified in some cases, belie this causal relationship. I'd echo Taleb and sat that if an elite class is to be healthy, incompetence must swiftly and summarily result in expulsion.

Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen

#192

Post by dhruvrrp »

roboys wrote: post #141
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it terrible. Sure this has the potential to have negative consequences for the people who's data it was but as far as the government cares it's working fine.

Now the innocent muslim community (who I expect are over-represented in these databases) gets to enjoy identity theft. It's just a pile on at this point.

It says license plate images from a single point of entry so it probably represents majority Mexican or Canadian people.

Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen

#193

Post by DennisP »

anigbrowl wrote: post #182
joeblubaugh wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm not arguing for centrality, but how do you see this actually working? People submit photographs when they make visa applications, so how are you going to store that?

These were not photos submitted with visa applications.

> The compromised photos were taken of travelers in vehicles coming in and out of the US through specific lanes at a single Port of Entry over a one and a half months period.

The article also mentions this was part of a new program to use facial recognition on everyone entering the country. We've never had that capability before, so I see this working like it always has.

Regarding the visa photos, it depends on what they're used for. In general I'd prefer avoiding ongoing surveillance as much as possible, which reduces the need to keep digital photos preserved in accessible places.

Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen

#195

Post by SmellyGeekBoy »

realusername wrote: post #155
EForEndeavour wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct me if I'm being overly cynical, but this is an oft-repeated truism that is as useless as "the only winning move is not to play." It's technically the truth, but what are we supposed to do, revert all information systems to non-electronic media? What is the intended takeaway from this statement? If anything, it absolves data security efforts of responsibility by pointing out that there's always a chance of dat…

They did not have to take a picture of that many travelers in the 90s (let alone social media which did not exist) and it wasn't less secure either. They probably never considered if their program is any useful or if it creates more harm than good.

I'm no fan of modern security theater but the number of plane hijackings and bombings in the 90s compared to today would seem to indicate that at least some good comes of it.

Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen

#196

Post by dosy »

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #195
realusername wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did not have to take a picture of that many travelers in the 90s (let alone social media which did not exist) and it wasn't less secure either. They probably never considered if their program is any useful or if it creates more harm than good.

I'm no fan of modern security theater but the number of plane hijackings and bombings in the 90s compared to today would seem to indicate that at least some good comes of it.

So if some good comes of it, it can't be called theater.

Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen

#197

Post by satiani »

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #195
realusername wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did not have to take a picture of that many travelers in the 90s (let alone social media which did not exist) and it wasn't less secure either. They probably never considered if their program is any useful or if it creates more harm than good.

I'm no fan of modern security theater but the number of plane hijackings and bombings in the 90s compared to today would seem to indicate that at least some good comes of it.

source?

Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen

#198

Post by jjoonathan »

sjy wrote: post #177
txcwpalpha wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I agree with your first paragraph. I mean no disrespect to you or your abilities, but being a C-level executive, especially in a large corporation, isn't something that someone can just "train up to". These types of positions really do require a specific personality, specific desires, often a specific ethic (work ethic and otherwise), specific connections, and more. These are the things, along with the f…

> I mean no disrespect to you or your abilities, but being a C-level executive, especially in a large corporation, isn't something that someone can just "train up to". My hunch is that this is no more true of C-levels than it is of any other profession where some natural aptitude (eg. above average intelligence) is required. In other words, I think the "pool" of C-levels is small almost solely because of organisation…

You could look at experience vs performance.

I've seen enough "emergency temporary promotions" succeed in their job that I tend to agree with you and not with the self-serving "I am special" arguments you hear from people in these circles.

Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen

#199

Post by social_quotient »

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #195
realusername wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did not have to take a picture of that many travelers in the 90s (let alone social media which did not exist) and it wasn't less secure either. They probably never considered if their program is any useful or if it creates more harm than good.

I'm no fan of modern security theater but the number of plane hijackings and bombings in the 90s compared to today would seem to indicate that at least some good comes of it.

Found this source because I was curious the same https://aviation-safety.net/statistics/period/stats.php?cat=...

Re: US Customs Database Of Traveler Photos Was Hacked And Stolen

#200

Post by Proven »

Taxpayer money at work!

After all these major hacks formerly personal details are now available in the open, so maybe privacy rules could be modified to exclude email, photo, address, and several other details widely available on the Internet....

Same level of protection (next to none), but significantly lower costs of compliance for those who don't collect beyond those few key items.

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