The last time the U.S. military used its Secure Electronic Enrollment Kit (SEEK II) devices was more than ten years ago, close to Kandahar, Afghanistan. The bulky black rectangle piece of technology, which was used to scan fingerprints and irises, was switched off and put away.
That is, until Matthias Marx, a German security researcher, purchased the device for $68 off of eBay in August 2022 (a steal, at about half the listed price). Marx had unintentionally acquired sensitive, identifying information on thousands of people for the cheap, low price of less than $70. The biometric fingerprint and iris scans of 2,632 people were accompanied by names, nationalities, photographs, and extensive descriptions, according to a story by The New York Times.
From the war zone areas to the government equipment sale to the eBay delivery, it seems that not a single Pentagon official had the foresight to remove the memory card out of the specific SEEK II that Marx ended up with. The researcher told the Times, “The irresponsible handling of this high-risk technology is unbelievable […] It is incomprehensible to us that the manufacturer and former military users do not care that used devices with sensitive data are being hawked online.”
According to the Times, the majority of the data in the SEEK II was gathered on people who the American military has designated as terrorists or wanted people. Others, however, were only ordinary citizens who had been detained at Middle Eastern checkpoints or even people who had aided the American administration.
Additionally, all of that information might be utilized to locate someone, making the devices and related data exceedingly hazardous, if they ended up in the wrong hands. For instance, the Taliban may have a personal motive for tracking down and punishing anyone who cooperated with U.S. forces in the area.
Marx and his co-researchers from Chaos Computer Club, which claims to be the largest hacker group in Europe, purchased the SSEK II and five other biometric capture devices- all from eBay. The group then went on with analyzing the devices for potential flaws, following a 2021 report by The Intercept, regarding military tech seize by the Taliban.
Marx was nonetheless concerned by the extent of what he discovered, despite the fact that he had set out from the start to assess the risks connected with biometric devices. The Times reports that a second SEEK II purchased by CCC and last used in Jordan in 2013 contained data on U.S. troops—likely gathered during training—in addition to the thousands of individuals identified on the single SEEK II device last used in Afghanistan.
