Tech
ICE ally Trust Stamp just fixed a massive security flaw
Names and driver’s license information for a few dozen people has been wrongly released by the facial recognition company.
Trust Stamp, the facial recognition company that has a $7.2 million contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has wrongly released the names and driver’s license information of “several dozen people.” No big.
Trust Stamp's CEO, Gareth Genner, told Insider that the company was not previously aware of the leak. He says Trust Stamp has already notified the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force and is willing to comply with any investigation processes.
Insider became aware of the incident after receiving an anonymous tip from a security researcher. The tip claimed Trust Stamp had released credentials to its demo app API, allowing anyone to see driver's license information from other demo app users. Trust Stamp says it has since fixed the vulnerability.
Biometric overload — ICE, which is still busy expelling migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border, has been busy striking deals with all sorts of companies. Coinbase provides blockchain analytics software; software company Palantir has had a slew of ICE contracts; and Clearview AI has been contracted to provide its massive facial recognition database.
The organization has been in the news for using facial recognition and GPS data to track migrants at the U.S. southern border. Insider reports that SEC filings from earlier this year reveal that Trust Stamp also has a partnership with MasterCard in order to process identity verification. It’s one of several companies providing facial recognition technology to the public and private sectors; in total, hundreds of American public agencies are using facial recognition software.
About-face — As Input reported in the fall of last year, ICE’s facial recognition habit doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon, even though Biden’s FTC appointee is a critic of facial recognition tech and the technology is facing greater regulation worldwide. Letting government agencies run wild with software with proven biases in race and gender is bad enough, and the security snafus make it even more concerning.