[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]
List: isn
Subject: [ISN] =?iso-8859-7?q?Intelligence_Gap=3A_How_a_Chinese_National_G?= =?iso-8859-7?q?ained_Access_to_A
From: InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews ! org>
Date: 2014-08-26 15:59:42
Message-ID: alpine.DEB.2.02.1408261559290.17569 () infosecnews ! org
[Download RAW message or body]
http://www.propublica.org/article/lizhong-fan
By Ryan Gabrielson, ProPublica and Andrew Becker, Center for Investigative
Reporting, illustration by David Sleight, ProPublica
August 26, 2014
LIZHONG FAN'S DESK WAS AMONG A CROWD of cubicles at the Arizona Counter
Terrorism Information Center in Phoenix. For five months in 2007, the
Chinese national and computer programmer opened his laptop and enjoyed
access to a wide range of sensitive information, including the Arizona
driver's license database, other law enforcement databases, and
potentially a roster of intelligence analysts and investigators.
The facility had been set up by state and local authorities in the
aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks, and so, out of concerns about
security, Fan had been assigned a team of minders to watch him nearly
every moment inside the center. Fan, hired as a contract employee
specializing in facial recognition technology, was even accompanied to the
bathroom.
However, no one stood in Fan's way when he packed his equipment one day in
early June 2007, then returned home to Beijing.
There's a lot that remains mysterious about Fan's brief tenure as a
computer programmer at the Arizona counterterrorism center. No one has
explained why Arizona law enforcement officials gave a Chinese national
access to such protected information. Nor has anyone said whether Fan
copied any of the potentially sensitive materials he had access to.
But the people responsible for hiring Fan say one thing is clear: The
privacy of as many as 5 million Arizona residents and other citizens has
been exposed. Fan, they said, was authorized to use the state's driver's
license database as part of his work on a facial recognition technology.
He often took that material home, and they fear he took it back to China.
[...]
--
Evident.io - Continuous Cloud Security for AWS.
Identify and mitigate risks in 5 minutes or less.
Sign up for a free trial @ https://evident.io/
[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]
Configure |
About |
News |
Add a list |
Sponsored by KoreLogic