Skip to Content
Computing

Data leak exposes unchangeable biometric data of over 1 million people

Fingerprint
FingerprintWikimedia commones

You can always change your password. Your fingerprints and face are another story.

A major leak of data discovered this week in the UK includes fingerprints of over 1 million individuals, face recognition information, unencrypted names and passwords, and other personal info from Suprema, a security company used by UK police, banks, and military contractors, according to a report in the Guardian.

Leaks: Data leaks happen with shocking regularity. Especially as companies have moved to the cloud in recent years, various misconfigurations and mistakes have left mountains of private data publicly exposed on the internet for anyone to see.

Biometrics: This incident is different because, in addition to personal data and passwords, it includes biometrics like fingerprints and face recognition information.

The data leak strikes at the heart of one of the big fears and criticisms about the increasing use of biometrics: You can change your username and password with a couple of clicks. Your face is forever. Or did the word “surgery” just cross your mind?

The source: Suprema runs Biostar 2, a biometric lock system controlling access and surveillance in secured buildings. The leak was discovered by Israeli researchers Noam Rotem and Ran Locar and the cybersecurity firm vpnMentor.

“After we discovered the breach in BioStar 2’s database, we contacted the company alerting them of our findings,” researchers wrote. "However, we found BioStar 2 generally very uncooperative throughout this process. Our team made numerous attempts to contact the company over email, to no avail. Eventually, we decided to reach out to BioStar 2’s offices by phone. Again, the company was largely unresponsive.”

The leak totaled 27.8 million records and 23 gigabytes of data. Approximately one week after discovery earlier this month, it was fixed.

Deep Dive

Computing

What’s next for the world’s fastest supercomputers

Scientists have begun running experiments on Frontier, the world’s first official exascale machine, while facilities worldwide build other machines to join the ranks.

The future of open source is still very much in flux

Free and open software have transformed the tech industry. But we still have a lot to work out to make them healthy, equitable enterprises.

The beautiful complexity of the US radio spectrum

The United States Frequency Allocation Chart shows how the nation’s precious radio frequencies are carefully shared.

How ubiquitous keyboard software puts hundreds of millions of Chinese users at risk

Third-party keyboard apps make typing in Chinese more efficient, but they can also be a privacy nightmare.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.