USB found on ground with security plans for the Queen of England's travel

[Guest]

Quote

An unemployed London man discovered a USB flash storage device lying on the street as he was headed to the library to check the Internet for job listings. When he got to the library, he plugged it in and found it was filled with security details for London's Heathrow International Airport—including security measures and travel details for Queen Elizabeth II. The man turned over the drive to a reporter at the Sunday Mirror.

On the flash drive were 76 folders of files, including security documents and maps of the airport. The maps included the location of every closed circuit television (CCTV) camera at the airport; routes and security protection measures for the Queen, Cabinet ministers and visiting foreign dignitaries; and maps of the airport's tunnels and escape shafts for the Heathrow Express train station.

 

Other documents included a timetable for anti-terrorism patrols at the airport, a documentation of the ultrasound system used by Heathrow security to check perimeter fences and runways for breaches, and details of the types of identification required to gain access to secure areas—including those used by covert security personnel. There were also photos of the security facilities used by the Queen.

In all, the drive contained 2.5GB of data—all of it unencrypted. In a statement to the press, a spokesperson for Heathrow said:

Common, if you are carrying around this kind of information, you should at least have it password protected (Eg. Encrypted). Anyways, I wonder if they will end up changing whatever travel plans they had due to this.

 

Edit: Please keep in mind that Unemployed =/= Homeless

 

Source(Ars Technica)

[elfensky]

Well... Someone just got shouted at and lost his job. I wonder why a reporter though, and not the police.

[Guest]

Just now, ElfenSky said:

Well... Someone just got shouted at and lost his job. I wonder why a reporter though, and not the police.

A little bit of fame before job seeking? (Though I could see that working against him...)

[elfensky]

Just now, tjcater said:

A little bit of fame before job seeking? (Though I could see that working against him...)

"Fame"? The news refers to him as "homeless person". That's a nice bit of fame right there, lmao.

[mynameisjuan]

1 minute ago, tjcater said:

Though I could see that working against him

Im am pretty sure him going to the press first is going to be a big mistake. Governments dont like it very much when you expose them or their stupid mistakes. 

[PlayStation 2]

2.5GB of unencrypted data of an airport?

Yeah, uhm, unless the airport has ass-tier security, this seems more like a sort of internal leak than anything else.

[Guest]

Just now, ElfenSky said:

"Fame"? The news refers to him as "homeless person". That's a nice bit of fame right there, lmao.

Are you sure? It says unemployed not homeless from what I have read.

[PCGuy_5960]

6 minutes ago, tjcater said:

In all, the drive contained 2.5GB of data—all of it unencrypted. 

Yeah, they were basically asking for trouble. 

[Theguywhobea]

Picking up random flash drives and plugging them in to someplace like a library or god forbid your own machine is a good way to get hacked/malware/spyware/ransomware.

[mynameisjuan]

4 minutes ago, Theguywhobea said:

Picking up random flash drives and plugging them in to someplace like a library or god forbid your own machine is a good way to get hacked/malware/spyware/ransomware.

Dont forget fried if you happen to be the unlucky ones finding a usb killer. 

[koolerone]

5 minutes ago, Theguywhobea said:

Picking up random flash drives and plugging them in to someplace like a library or god forbid your own machine is a good way to get hacked/malware/spyware/ransomware.

thats why you do it on a library computer  /s

[Tech_Dreamer]

almost too simple to be complicated don't you think?

[dalekphalm]

1 hour ago, koolerone said:

thats why you do it on a library computer  /s

As IT for a Library - please don't do that

[corsairian]

Why would this guy give this to a reporter? That's kind of a messed up thing to do. It's like Snowden leaking information in a way (here comes the fun people). 

 

The USB is said to contain escape routes, tunnels, escape shafts. All which probably wasn't public info until now. 

[Taf the Ghost]

1 hour ago, ElfenSky said:

Well... Someone just got shouted at and lost his job. I wonder why a reporter though, and not the police.

Because this is a massive screw up, the first order of business is to blame someone inconsequential. "Unemployed Man" realized he was going to be arrested for spying if he turned it in.

 

Or it's some intelligence service sending a message that someone completely f'd up and everyone else knows. Maximum embarrassment for certain factions, which will likely lead to replacements at top-level positions.

[ashypanda]

to be fair it's not the first time this has happened.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/21/at-least-1000-government-laptops-and-flash-drives-reported-missing-since-2015

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1064917.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7449255.stm

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/jun/11/uksecurity.terrorism1

OPSEC courtesy of the UK government agencies.

 

[dalekphalm]

Just now, corsairian said:

Why would this guy give this to a reporter? That's kind of a messed up thing to do. It's like Snowden leaking information in a way (here comes the fun people). 

 

The USB is said to contain escape routes, tunnels, escape shafts. All which probably wasn't public info until now. 

Huge difference between what Snowden did, and what this guy did.

 

Snowden leaked to a reporter because it was the government doing a bunch of illegal stuff. Had he mentioned anything, he would have been stonewalled. Most (if not all) of his superiors were likely in on it anyway.

 

This guy should have turned over the USB to the Police or the UK equivalent of the FBI.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, ashypanda said:

to be fair it's not the first time this has happened.

Maybe they would be better off using IPoAC instead... Less human error to blame (Lets blame it on the pigeon instead)

[Taf the Ghost]

13 minutes ago, corsairian said:

Why would this guy give this to a reporter? That's kind of a messed up thing to do. It's like Snowden leaking information in a way (here comes the fun people). 

 

The USB is said to contain escape routes, tunnels, escape shafts. All which probably wasn't public info until now. 

I'd put 60% odds the "Unemployed Man going to the library" is an agent for another security service in the UK. This "leak" should get a chunk of upper management in some organization fired, which is likely the point. If that level of information is just "out there", completely exposed, then a bunch of people deserved to be fired.

[Bananasplit_00]

if this is something that wasent grabbed iligaly for ilicit purposes then they need to get some fucking work done on the security part...

[dalekphalm]

10 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

I'd put 60% odds the "Unemployed Man going to the library" is an agent for another security service in the UK. This "leak" should get a chunk of upper management in some organization fired, which is likely the point. If that level of information is just "out there", completely exposed, then a bunch of people deserved to be fired.

What information and facts did you use to come up with a "60%" chance of the guy buying an agent for the UK government?

[mr moose]

Am I the only one who thought it was inappropriate to hand the drive over to the media instead of the back to the airport/government?

 

I get it, the drive should have been encrypted and all that,  but there are a thousand reasons it ended up there (assuming it's even true) and the only motive/cause we know for certain is that the finder decided the media was more important than the government.

[dalekphalm]

29 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

-snip-

This guy should have turned over the USB to the Police or the UK equivalent of the FBI.

 

Just now, mr moose said:

Am I the only one who thought it was inappropriate to hand the drive over to the media instead of the back to the airport/government?

 

I get it, the drive should have been encrypted and all that,  but there are a thousand reasons it ended up there (assuming it's even true) the only motive/cause we know for certain is that the finder decided the media was more important than the government.

You are not.

 

Personally I think it was irresponsible. The reporter didn't need to know those details for him to report on the issue. The man could have let the reporter know what he found after he had turned it over to Police.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

23 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Had he mentioned anything, he would have been stonewalled. Most (if not all) of his superiors were likely in on it anyway.

He was being stonewalled. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfWgPRHrxds

NBC doesn't allow embedding of their videos, so you'll have to watch it on YT.  Hopefully it isn't blocked in the US. 

 

In the full interview it is mentioned that NBC News did receive confirmation from multiple sources that there were indeed mails from him to the general council's office, raising policy and legal questions.

[dalekphalm]

15 minutes ago, Captain Chaos said:

He was being stonewalled. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfWgPRHrxds

NBC doesn't allow embedding of their videos, so you'll have to watch it on YT.  Hopefully it isn't blocked in the US. 

 

In the full interview it is mentioned that NBC News did receive confirmation from multiple sources that there were indeed mails from him to the general council's office, raising policy and legal questions.

I thought so but couldn't remember the specifics.

 

Basically, Snowden had two choices:

Blow the whistle and GTFO, or do nothing, and continue to let the NSA break American laws.

 

Though... in the long run, not much has changed.