A cyber-terrorist has reportedly provided journalists with login credential and other data stolen from the servers of Securus , a ship’s company that was lately revealed to be selling cellphone location information to U.S. law enforcement agency without a warrant .
The hacker reportedlyprovidedMotherboard with several intimate file , include a database of over 2,800 Securus usernames — chiefly government agencies , sheriff departments , and local law enforcement . The customer info dates back to 2011 , Motherboard reported . Information about Securus employees , including their personal email addresses , were also reportedly steal .
The New York Timesreportedlast week that Securus had managed to gain mass ’s location data via telecommunication companies through a service that allow customers to ping cellphones and claim their location via their proximity to cell tug . This capability is by and large reserved for marketing purposes or for company that offer up roadside aid ; however , the loophole has also enable Securus to provided that same data to law without a warrant .
Motherboard enjoin it verified the information provided by the hacker by using a forget password feature article on the Securus website . When an address of someone who is not a Securus customer is entered , the page returns an error ; however , the reference allow by the drudge checked out , seemingly confirming that the slip data is genuine .
Per Motherboard :
It is not wholly unclouded how many of these user have access to Securus ’ phone locating service . But other parts of the datum betoken that many of the substance abuser are likely to be working in prisons : some of the users ’ roles are marked as “ jail decision maker , ” “ slammer captain , ” and “ deputy warden . ” On its website , Securus markets its “ Location Based Services ” product to prison house so staff can know where inmate are calling .
The website listed Minneapolis , Phoenix , Indianapolis as metropolis touch on by the falling out .
Securus , a Dallas - based company , has commercialize its services to , among others , prison facilities ; it put forward it does so to proffer prison officials a means to supervise for safety valve endeavour and smuggling functioning . A chief deputy sheriff at the Pinal County Sheriff ’s Office in Arizona told the Times that Securus ’ service had been used successfully in one case to locate a suspect who allegedly mailed a letter of the alphabet to an inmate containing Methedrine .
Sen. Ron Wyden , a leading lawgiver on privacy offspring , has asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate wireless carriers working with Securus . Ina letterprovided to Gizmodo , Wyden called the practice of supplying locating data without a warrantee “ scurrilous and potentially wrongful . ”
Securus could not be directly reached for comment .
[ Motherboard ]
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