National Public Data Breach Causes Bankruptcy & the US Government Will Now Scan Your Face (Issue 41, 2024)
On top of that, NASA is Utilising Clearview AI and Chinese Hackers Exploited US Law Enforcement's Wiretapping Backdoors.
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In this edition:
National Public Data Declares Bankruptcy After Massive Data Breach
Real-Time-Bidding May Cause National Security Issues
Chinese Hacking Operation Compromises Telecom Backdoors
NASA Purchases Facial Recognition Tech in Surprising Move
Federal Government to Utilise Facial Scans for Login.gov Users
Quartz Mines Essential for Semiconductors Closed by Hurricane
Military Use of AI Expands into Disaster Relief
China to Deploy Quantum Satellite-based Communication Network
National Public Data Declares Bankruptcy After Massive Data Breach
This summer hackers stole hundreds of millions of Social Security Numbers (SSNs) and other valuable personal details from National Public Data (reported by Talk Liberation here). Following this massive breach, multiple federal and state-level investigations began looking into National Public Data and several class action lawsuits were also filed against the company.
Directly citing these investigations and lawsuits, National Public Data’s parent company, Jerico Pictures, has now chosen to file for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy filing revealed that paying for credit monitoring for the massive number of affected individuals will likely be required of National Public Data and, “…the enterprise cannot generate sufficient revenue to address the extensive potential liabilities, not to mention, defend the lawsuits and support the investigations.”
Incredibly, the massive background check company is run out of the home of its President, Salvatore Verini Jr., and “maintains no dedicated physical offices” as they utilise data centres to run the majority of the business’s infrastructure. Adding insult to injury, Jerico Pictures valued the ‘lost’ property from the breach at a paltry $1 million, despite an estimated 899 million SSN’s of living and deceased individuals having been stolen.
Real-Time-Bidding May Cause National Security Issues
A recent investigation by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has revealed a troubling issue with an advertising technology known as Real-Time-Bidding or RTB.
RTB is used nearly everywhere on the web and is activated whenever someone loads new content on a website or application. Google is the largest player in this sector and their role is to broadcast as much information as possible about the user who is accessing content. This allows advertisers (or their proxies) to then submit an informed ‘Real-Time-Bid’. These auctions occur within a fraction of a second and Google may receive thousands of bids on a single auction. The entity that submits the winning bid is then allowed to show their advertising to the user.
Within Australia, RTB data is broadcast in a manner described as a 'free-for-all’, allowing foreign states and non-state actors access to the sensitive personal data gathered from people’s use of websites and applications, merely by being an active bidder. The investigation’s review of RTB data found that Google and other RTB firms were sending sensitive information about Australian citizens into China, and prior to the imposition of sanctions, into Russia as well.
The report also stated that “military personnel and political decision makers are targeted using RTB”, which is concerning as national laws in the aforementioned countries allow security agencies access to the data, and the information broadcast by Google to bidding entities likely “exposes them to blackmail, hacking and compromise, and undermines the security of their organisations and institutions.”
Chinese Hacking Operation Compromises Telecom Backdoors
A branch of the Chinese government’s cyber army known as ‘Salt Typhoon’ likely compromised major U.S. telecom and internet providers in a recent hack. The breach took advantage of companies including AT&T, Lumen (formerly CenturyLink), and Verizon that built access for law enforcement into their infrastructure that enables wiretapping.
The fallout from this potentially months long compromise is twofold, as it exposes the security issues around having built-in backdoors to critical infrastructure, and also allowed the hackers to possibly identify Chinese targets of U.S. surveillance.
According to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the attack, the US government, “considers the intrusions to be historically significant and worrisome.” FBI Director Christopher Wray also stated that, “China’s hackers are positioning on American infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities, if or when China decides the time has come to strike”.
NASA Purchases Facial Recognition Tech in Surprising Move
Clearview AI is a controversial tech company that has scraped over 10 billion personal images from the web and sells access to it for the purpose of providing facial recognition. Their clients range from nation states to small town law enforcement and a recent procurement notice identified by 404 Media shows that NASA is now a Clearview AI customer.
The purchase is specifically for the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), which is the body that oversees NASA and whose special agents often develop cases for civil or criminal prosecution. Both NASA and the OIG have refrained from commenting about the Clearview purchase, so it is unknown at this time what specific need the facial recognition tech is meeting.
One speculative take is that Clearview AI access is incredibly cheap, with the procurement for a two year subscription costing a measly US$16,000, and for this reason even a single case or use of the massive facial database is reasonably cost effective.
Federal Government to Utilise Facial Scans for Login.gov Users
The General Services Administration (GSA) is part of the United States federal government and provides access to federal benefits and services for many Americans. Recently, the GSA announced they’ll be offering facial recognition to verify users who access the Login.gov service portal.
The Login.gov domain currently sees 300 million sign-ins per year and is utilise by over 50 federal and state agencies. The GSA is claiming that Login.gov facial recognition won’t rely on “one-to-many facial identification,” and will only use the requisite photos to verify identities.
It’s worth noting that this recent facial scanning service follows an unsuccessful attempt by the GSA to provide a similar login experience that caused controversy when it was found to not meet required NIST standards in 2023. The GSA’s own Office of the Inspector General released the report, detailing how the GSA was not “conducting physical or biometric comparisons, such as through facial recognition or fingerprints, as required by NIST” and how, “Login.gov was instead using a third party to compare identification cards to information contained in LexisNexis.”
Quartz Mines Essential for Semiconductors Closed by Hurricane
Last month Hurricane Helene impacted millions of people in the American southeast, knocking out power, causing fatalities and shuttering High Purity Quartz (HPQ) mine operations at Spruce Pine, North Carolina. A representative from one of the mining companies working the HPQ deposit previously stated that, “Inside nearly every cell phone and computer chip you’ll find quartz from Spruce Pine”.
It is likely too soon to tell what the ramifications of the temporary closures at Spruce Pine will be, but experts have begun weighing in as social media speculators predict a potential global halt of semiconductor production. Researcher Chris Hackney from Newcastle University in the UK believes the damage to infrastructure will stop production for a while and “any disruption to supply chains will have an impact on prices and production of high-ended electronics and tech.”
Offering a counter opinion, Tom Bide who is a senior scientist at the British Geological Survey, stated: “it is likely most manufacturers have some level of stockpiles so there will be some ‘slack’ in the system. If the issues are temporary this may have no discernible effect.”
According to the Associated Press, as of October 10th at least one of the mining operators at Spruce Pine is back online and working towards resuming full production, hopefully mitigating a more severe supply chain disruption.
Military Use of AI Expands into Disaster Relief
The Maven Smart System is part of the United States military’s AI program Project Maven and was originally developed to “use geolocation data and satellite imagery to automatically detect potential targets on the battlefield.” Recently, the Maven Smart System’s role was expanded by the United States Army to assist first responders and federal agencies performing recovery operations necessitated by Hurricane Helene.
According to an anonymous Department of Defense official, the Maven Smart System is helping the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), “get data out of these environments that have little to no communications capabilities back into the FEMA dashboard so they understand where they need to supply things.”
The Maven Smart System is a sub-project of Project Maven, which caused controversy in 2018 when over three thousand Google employees signed a petition requesting the tech giant discontinue working on the military AI system and commit to not creating ‘warfare technology’.
China to Deploy Quantum Satellite-based Communication Network
A recent announcement from Chinese physicist Pan Jianwei has revealed Chinese plans for deploying a “quantum satellite constellation and integrated ground-based networks” within the next three years. Comprised of multiple low Earth orbit satellites as well as one in high orbit, the satellites will be connected to ground based optical-fibre quantum networks and provide potentially un-hackable, secure communications.
The South China Morning Post explained the technology as “based on the special properties of tiny particles called qubits, which can exist in more than one state at once. Anyone trying to listen in would cause an instant change in the particles, immediately revealing the eavesdropping attempt.”
With dominance over global communication infrastructure held by firms mostly based in the United States and Israel, it is possible other countries may be open to replicating or even participating in China’s new system to prevent the rampant eavesdropping and interception that is the current norm.
That concludes this edition of Your Worldwide INTERNET REPORT!
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