According to a report by TheVerge.com, Arizona’s Counterterrorism Information Center — the largest center of its kind in the state — may be covering up a huge data breach.
The breach stems from the center’s relationship with Lizhong Fan, a Chinese national who was hired back in 2007 to serve as a facial recognition expert.
A new investigation launched by ProPublica and The Center for Investigative Reporting centers around Fan’s activity dating back to June 2007, when he left on a trip back to Beijing with two laptops and luggage filled with other hard drive materials.
Fan never returned to Arizona, only sending sporadic emails to his bosses back at the ACIC. No one at the center has heard from him since 2011.
His work computers were also retrieved, although all information was erased from the hard drive.
Because of his work title, ProPublica believes Fan had access to all data at the center, including a database that holds more than five million driver licenses and other sensitive law enforcement information.
There are still a lot of questions to be answered, including how the breach stayed secret for the seven years since Fan left the country. The two officials in charge of the center, Maricopa Country Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano, have been silent about the breach, and Arpaio’s deputies seem to have worked to keep the information secret, instructing officers not to discuss the incident.
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