(The Register)
The US Customs and Border Patrol today said hackers broke into one of its bungling technology subcontractors – and made off with images of people and their vehicle license plates as they passed through America's land border.
The CBP issued a statement outlining how it learned on May 31 that the unnamed contractor, against Uncle Sam's privacy rules and security measures, copied license plate scans and traveler pictures to its own network, only to have that network invaded by hackers and the data stolen.
In an email to The Register, a spokesperson for the border cops said:
On May 31, 2019, 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. The subcontractor’s network was subsequently compromised by a malicious cyber-attack. No CBP systems were compromised. Read more