--- title: "Hackers Steal 100,000 Traveler Photos from U.S. Customs" description: "Some 100,000 travelers had their images and license plate numbers stored by U.S. Customs stolen by hackers, The New York Times reports." date: "2019-06-11" modified: "2019-06-11" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/hackers-customs-border-protection-license-plates" categories: - "Cybersecurity" - "Future Society" - "Hacking" tags: - "customs and border protection" - "facial recognition" - "the digest" - "us government" --- # Hackers Steal 100,000 Traveler Photos from U.S. Customs ![Some 100,000 travelers had their images and license plate numbers stored by U.S. Customs stolen by hackers, The New York Times reports.]() *\Image: San Ysidro Border Traffic/Victor Tangermann\* ## Border Hack Bad news, travelers. Hackers have stolen up to 100,000 images and license plate numbers stored by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), [*The New York Times* reports](). It's not a good look for the federal government, raising questions about its ability to keep citizens' data private — and it's [not the first]() data breach of its kind. ## License Plate Leak The breach occurred when a CBP subcontractor's network was hacked after transferring copies of the images, the *Times* reports. The copying was against CBP's data protection rules and was carried out without the agency's knowledge. The data, including pictures of drivers and their license plates, was stolen over a six week period from Perceptics, a company that specializes in license plate reading technology. “As of today, none of the image data has been identified on the dark web or internet,” the Customs and Border Protection agency said in a statement received by the *Times*. ## Stockpiling Data The news comes after *The Verge* revealed that the CBP carried out [large-scale tests]() in 2016 of new facial recognition technology at various point-of-entries that scanned drivers' faces without their consent. With more and more personal information collected, including biometric data, critics have been raising the alarm, arguing that individual privacy and security are not being safeguarded. **READ MORE:** [Border Agency’s Images of Travelers Stolen in Hack]() \[*The New York Times*\] **More on data breaches:** *[Rogue Russian Hackers Are Attacking US Embassies]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()