Security News > 2022 > June > Feds Forced Travel Firms to Share Surveillance Data on Hacker

The U.S. government ordered two travel companies to provide information about the movement of a Russian citizen suspected of hacking.

The surveillance data was used as part of an investigation by the U.S. Secret Service, according to court documents recently unsealed.

The revelation of the extent of surveillance that the feds ordered companies to do in a 2015 investigation of Russian hacker Aleksei Burkov once again raises questions of privacy, accountability and responsibility in terms of how much access the government should have to an individual's private data.

Forbes submitted a legal challenge to unseal documents in the case, which it won, subsequently publishing a report this week on what those documents revealed: extensive surveillance of Burkov by two travel companies, U.S.-based Sabre and U.K.-based Travelport, at the behest of the feds.

Another security professional said that he's not overly concerned if the federal government uses legal means to get access to private data collected by technology companies.

"Whether its Meta saying they can't figure out where personal data is being used inside Meta, or law enforcement being able to get real time information on suspects, society just hasn't come to grips with the implications of surveillance capitalism," he said.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/feds-forced-travel-firms-to-share-surveillance-data-on-hacker/179929/