US airline industry quietly selling flight data to DHS


A data broker owned by some of America’s biggest airlines has been selling access to customer flight data to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The data, compiled by data broker Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), includes names, flight itineraries, and financial details. It also covers flights booked via US travel agencies. ARC makes this data available to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), both of which were previously known as the US Customs Service until 2003, and both of which are offices under DHS. ARC is owned and operated by eight major US airlines and is unique in being the only financial intermediary between the airline industry and US travel agencies, according to the data broker’s contract with ICE.

Read more…
Source: Malwarebytes Labz


Sign up for our Newsletter
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox.


Related:

  • U.S. Escalates Online Attacks on Russia’s Power Grid

    June 15, 2019

    The United States is stepping up digital incursions into Russia’s electric power grid in a warning to President Vladimir V. Putin and a demonstration of how the Trump administration is using new authorities to deploy cybertools more aggressively, current and former government officials said. In interviews over the past three months, the officials described the previously ...

  • Goznym Malware: Cybercriminal Network Dismantled In International Operation

    May 16, 2019

    An unprecedented, international law enforcement operation has dismantled a complex, globally operating and organised cybercrime network. The criminal network used GozNym malware in an attempt to steal an estimated $100 million from more than 41 000 victims, primarily businesses and their financial institutions. A criminal Indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh, USA charges ...

  • DHS Orders Federal Agencies to Patch Critical Flaws Within 15 Days

    May 1, 2019

    In recent years, we have seen how hackers prey on those too lazy or ignorant to install security patches, which, if applied on time, would have prevented some devastating cyber attacks and data breaches that happened in major organisations. The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ordered government agencies to more swiftly plug the ...

  • Unprotected Database Exposes Personal Info of 80 Million American Households

    April 30, 2019

    A team of security researchers has claims to have found a publicly-accessible database that exposes information on more than 80 million U.S. households—nearly 65 percent of the total number of American households. Discovered by VPNMentor’s research team lead by hacktivists Noam Rotem and Ran Locar, the unsecured database includes 24GB of extremely detailed information about individual ...

  • EU: No evidence of Kaspersky spying despite ‘confirmed malicious’ classification

    April 16, 2019

    In a document published today, the European Commission has revealed that they don’t have any actual evidence of Kaspersky software being used for spying on behalf of the Russian government, as the US government alluded in 2017. The document was the Commission’s reply to a series of questions submitted by Gerolf Annemans, a European Parliament member on behalf ...

  • Mystery of the Chinese woman who allegedly tried to sneak into Trump’s Mar-a-Lago with a USB stick of malware

    April 2, 2019

    A Chinese woman was caught sneaking into President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago country club with a thumb drive of malware, it was claimed yesterday. Yujing Zhang, 32, was collared after possibly trying to slip into a bash at the swanky resort promoted by Li “Cindy” Yang, the former massage parlor boss who denies allegations she sold access to the president and his ...