Cybercriminal expose biometric data linked to police in India

In India, thousands of law enforcement officials and individuals applying to join the police force have had their personal data leaked online.

This includes fingerprints, facial scans, details of scars and tattoos, and signatures.

Recent cybercriminals have started to advertise sales of similar biometric police data from India on the messaging app Telegram.

The sensitive documents were found on an exposed server linked to ThoughtGreen Technologies, a global IT development and outsourcing firm, by security researcher Jeremiah Fowler. He discovered nearly 500GB of data in total, consisting of roughly 1.6 million documents, all dated from 2021 to early 2021.

This leak highlights the risks of biometric data collection, particularly for sensitive law enforcement positions. Fowler noted that several mobile applications and installation files were present in the database, many of which were linked to Indian law enforcement or military personnel.

However, the problem is broader. The increasing reliance on the collection of biometric data globally poses significant risks, demonstrated by recent biometric data leaks, including a face recognition leak in Australia. Fowler contends that entrusting this data to third-party companies may lead to the loss of control over the data and significant repercussions in the event of a data breach.

- CyberBeat