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FBI Collects Facial-Recognition Images From 18 States’ Motor Vehicle Departments

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In a US Congressional hearing, the FBI came under attack from both sides of the aisle for its use of facial-recognition software, because that violates citizen privacy and can lead to arrests of innocent people. An official says that only criminal mugshots are collected, but it is known that the FBI also collects images from driver’s licenses, passports, visas, and security videos. The agency now is seeking to access all state databases that have photos, and these contain images of about half the US adult population. –GEG

How the FBI’s facial recognition program works

Facial recognition has been part of the FBI’s Next Generation Identification program for years. It’s a biometric method of identifying someone by comparing live capture or digital image data with the stored record of that person, typically used for security purposes.

This week, congress held a hearing putting the FBI program under the microscope. It came under a fierce bi-partisan attack from politicians on both sides of the aisle. They said using facial recognition software violates Americans’ privacy and leads to the arrests of innocent people.

It turns out that over 400 million pictures of Americans’ faces are stored in local, state and federal law enforcement databases. It’s estimated that half of all adults in the U.S. are in the databases.

An FBI official said at the hearing, “The only information the FBI has and has collected in our database are criminal mugshot photos.” However, that doesn’t include databases held by local and state law enforcement agencies. Those include images from driver’s licenses, mugshots, passports, security videos and visas.

The FBI has agreements with 18 U.S. states that give it access to all of these databases. The agency is working on getting access to all state databases.

Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz said, “Like many technologies, used in the wrong hands or without appropriate parameters, it is ripe for abuse. It would be one thing if facial recognition technology were perfect or near perfect, but it clearly is not. Facial recognition technology does make mistakes.”

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WikiLeaks Releases Documents On #Vault7 “Dark Matter’. Reveals Non-Removable CIA Hacks To Apple Products

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WikiLeaks documents show that the CIA has hacking tools to attack Apple Mac and iPhone firmware, which is that part of computer memory intended to remain unchanged and, therefore, not available for software applications. Spyware inside firmware is difficult to delete even if the operating system is reinstalled. The CIA can infect factory-fresh iPhones and operate them remotely, including taking files, address books, text messages, and call logs. [But don’t worry. This is to fight terrorism, right?] –GEG

WikiLeaks has released the latest batch of documents in its Vault 7 series of documents related to the CIA’s espionage programs. The latest release, dubbed ‘Dark Matter,’ reveals the specific techniques used to target Apple products.

The release discloses the alleged details of methods employed by the CIA to compromise devices manufactured by Apple including the iPhone and Macbook Air.

In a statement from WikiLeaks, the whistleblower group said Thursday’s ‘Dark Matter’ leak includes details of the ‘Sonic Screwdriver’ project, described by the CIA as a “mechanism for executing code on peripheral devices while a Mac laptop or desktop is booting.”

Techniques named in the release detail methods that could allow devices to be compromised between the manufacturing line and the end user or by a CIA asset in close proximity to a target.

 The projects, developed by the CIA’s Embedded Development Branch (EDB), attack Apple’s firmware meaning that any infections are persistent regardless of efforts to remove them, including if the operating system is reinstalled.

WikiLeaks said this allows an attacker to boot its attack software from a USB stick on to a device even when a firmware password is enabled on the device, meaning the read-only memory of a device can be modified using ‘Sonic Screwdriver’.

The infector is stored in the Apple Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet adapter, claim WikiLeaks.

The latest leak consists of five documents, ‘Sonic Screwdriver’, ‘DerStarke v1.4’, DetStarke v1.4 RC1 – IVVRR CHecklist’, ‘Triton v1.3’ and DarkSeaSkies v1.0 – URDSee more’.

Within the released tranche is a tool known as NightSkies, which allows the CIA to infiltrate factory fresh iPhones and track and control them remotely, granting “full remote command and control,” to the CIA.

NightSkies allows the CIA to take files from iPhones, including details from the owner’s phonebook, text messages and call logs.

The revelation that the CIA is physically infiltrating factory fresh phones suggests it has accessed an organization’s supply chain, meaning they may be intercepting the phones as they are shipped to targets, with CIA agents or assets tampering with suspects’ phones before they have even been received.

Also included in the documents are details about a number of other tools employed by the CIA to infiltrate Apple products, affording the CIA a variety of command and control capabilities.

DarkSeaSkies is an implant that is found in the firmware of an Apple MacBook Air that runs in the background and allows the CIA command and control capabilities over a targeted device . A 2009 ‘user requirements’ document on DarkSeaSkies details how assets should install DarkSeaSkies.

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