For Sale on eBay: A Military Database of Fingerprints and Iris Scans 32
The shoebox-shaped device, designed to capture fingerprints and perform iris scans, was listed on eBay for $149.95. A German security researcher, Matthias Marx, successfully offered $68, and when it arrived at his home in Hamburg in August, the rugged, hand-held machine contained more than what was promised in the listing. The device's memory card held the names, nationalities, photographs, fingerprints and iris scans of 2,632 people. From a report: Most people in the database, which was reviewed by The New York Times, were from Afghanistan and Iraq. Many were known terrorists and wanted individuals, but others appeared to be people who had worked with the U.S. government or simply been stopped at checkpoints. Metadata on the device, called a Secure Electronic Enrollment Kit, or SEEK II, revealed that it had last been used in the summer of 2012 near Kandahar, Afghanistan. The device -- a relic of the vast biometric collection system the Pentagon built in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- is a physical reminder that although the United States has moved on from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the tools built to fight them and the information they held live on in ways unintended by their creators.
Exactly how the device ended up going from the battlefields in Asia to an online auction site is unclear. But the data, which offers detailed descriptions of individuals in addition to their photograph and biometric data, could be enough to target people who were previously unknown to have worked with U.S. military forces should the information fall into the wrong hands. For those reasons, Mr. Marx would not place the information online or share it in an electronic format, but he did allow a Times reporter in Germany to see the data in person alongside him. "Because we have not reviewed the information contained on the devices, the department is not able to confirm the authenticity of the alleged data or otherwise comment on it," Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the Defense Department's press secretary, said in a statement. "The department requests that any devices thought to contain personally identifiable information be returned for further analysis." He provided an address for the military's biometrics program manager at Fort Belvoir in Virginia where the devices could be sent. The biometric data on the SEEK II was collected at detainment facilities, on patrols, during screenings of local hires and after the explosion of an improvised bomb. Around the time when the device was last used in Afghanistan, the American war effort there was winding down.
Exactly how the device ended up going from the battlefields in Asia to an online auction site is unclear. But the data, which offers detailed descriptions of individuals in addition to their photograph and biometric data, could be enough to target people who were previously unknown to have worked with U.S. military forces should the information fall into the wrong hands. For those reasons, Mr. Marx would not place the information online or share it in an electronic format, but he did allow a Times reporter in Germany to see the data in person alongside him. "Because we have not reviewed the information contained on the devices, the department is not able to confirm the authenticity of the alleged data or otherwise comment on it," Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the Defense Department's press secretary, said in a statement. "The department requests that any devices thought to contain personally identifiable information be returned for further analysis." He provided an address for the military's biometrics program manager at Fort Belvoir in Virginia where the devices could be sent. The biometric data on the SEEK II was collected at detainment facilities, on patrols, during screenings of local hires and after the explosion of an improvised bomb. Around the time when the device was last used in Afghanistan, the American war effort there was winding down.
Re: Paywall (Score:2)
Re: Paywall (Score:3)
Clever accountants (how it went down) (Score:2)
Weâ(TM)ll just sell them their own hardware
Just make sure to wipe them clean
Can I get some sneakers too?
Donâ(TM)t bother me with your fashion accessories; get rid of it
For real though (Score:5, Insightful)
How the fuck am I supposed to RTFA when you idiots keep posting shit that is behind a paywall?
Is this why we now have 1200 word essays on the front page instead of just, ya know, a story summary like we used to?
Re: For real though (Score:3)
Re:For real though (Score:5, Funny)
First this is Slashdot, no one reads the articles. So in the hope some part of the article is read, it is now in the summary.
But in true Slashdot fashion, people no longer read the summary, just the Subject Line. So my 2023 prediction is the 1200 word summary will start showing up in the Subject.
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First this is Slashdot, no one reads the articles. So in the hope some part of the article is read, it is now in the summary.
But in true Slashdot fashion, people no longer read the summary, just the Subject Line. So my 2023 prediction is the 1200 word summary will start showing up in the Subject.
All I know is this story is about a sale on eBay.
Some kinda Boxing Day thing?
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Reads slashdot. Can't figure out how to bypass a paywall. Here https://archive.ph/5b2V6 [archive.ph]
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Of course I know about archive sites, but thanks for making excuses for the ongoing slide in editorial quality around here you smug fuck. I'm sure the editors appreciate your bovine acquiescence.
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Dupes and editorial quality have been running gags since this site’s early days. You must be new here.
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Well, I for one thank you for posting that link. Not at all new to /., but archive.ph is either new or I have long forgotten it. Cheers!
ebay (Score:5, Interesting)
The weird thing about this story is that it was for sale on ebay instead of on some dark marketplace.
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The weird thing about this story is that it was for sale on ebay instead of on some dark marketplace.
Weird no. Informative yes.
If the seller was selling it as a way to get a hold of US Military biometrics they would have sold it on the dark web, probably for a lot more.
Instead, the seller got a hold of some "junk" from the US Military, and they figured they'd make a couple bucks selling the junk on eBay. Either some military process for disposing of this stuff broke down, or someone "disposed" of it in the back of their trunk and drove it home. Either way I doubt they realized it held sensitive info when t
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Who says they didn't first dump the data to sell on the dark web, then sell the original hardware on Ebay to give them plausible deniability?
Possible... but there's zero evidence this happened, and it's probably a really bad idea on top of it. The Ebay transaction would just be another thread that lead back to them if they didn't cover their tracks properly, and the Ebay buyer would be easily traced (and likely exonerated) giving zero deniability.
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Makes for a better headline
US != entire world... (Score:1)
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Let me guess, you didn't read the article and you're posting smug anti-American bullshit?
Re: US != entire world... (Score:2)
Afghanistan != entire world... (Score:2)
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Yes, it really only applies to those parts of the world that have been affected by the US military or might be affected by the US military in the future. So you and your Senitelese friends can safely move on without reading.
Re: US != entire world... (Score:2)
ah, the results of a well-planned withdrawal (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder what other wonderfully ill-advised data was left behind?
As for why it showed up on ebay? Because they can make money. I'm surprised that they haven't sold EVERYTHING the U.S. left behind.
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Well, the Biden administration gave the Taliban a list of Americans still in the country... so when it comes to negligence, it's hard to imagine anything worse.
Shoebox shaped? (Score:2)
Eh? As opposed to, say, "regular" box shaped?
Collaborating - the gift that keeps on giving (Score:1)
It never pays long term to be a collaborator with countries invading others. History has shown that it is extremely rare for an invader to stay, and in modern history even less so with the conflict for profit model that seems to be the strategy for war industries in some countries becoming unprofitable in the long term.