Intellectual Property Law

Passport Snooping Gets Fed Intelligence Analyst Up to Year in Prison

By Ryan Singel, Kevin Poulsen, Sarah Lai Stirland, Kim Zetter, and David Kravets

A former State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research analyst pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to unlawfully accessing passport records of celebrities, actors, athletes and politicians.

Lawrence Yontz, 48, of Arlington, Virginia, faces a maximum of a year in prison when sentenced in December, the Justice Department said. Yontz is the only person charged in a scandal that has rocked the State Department's Passport Information Electronic Records System.

The system maintains data on 127 million passports and can be accessed by more than 20,000 employees.

As part of a security breach, the passport files of Barack Obama, John McCain and Hillary Clinton were illegally accessed. The department declined to name the identities of others whose privacy was breached.

A July government audit (.pdf) has found "weaknesses, including a general lack of policies, procedures, guidance and training" within the State Department's passport bureau.

Yontz admitted (.pdf) that between 2005 and 2008, he read the passport applications of "approximately 200 celebrities, athletes, actors, politicians and their immediate families, musicians, game show contestants, members of the media corps, prominent business professionals, colleagues, associates, neighbors and individuals identified in the press," the Justice Department said.

The government said Yontz accessed the applications because of "idle curiosity."

Yontz pleaded guilty to unauthorized access to a State Department computer in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1030(a)(2)(B).

Photo: berbercarpet

See Also:

• E-Passports Signed, Sealed, Delivered -- But Not Like You May Think
• E-Passport Hacker Designs RFID Security Tool
• Farmers See 'Mark of the Beast' in RFID Livestock Tags
• Thief Nabs 3000 Blank British Passports Worth $5 Million
• Authorities Hit Back at e-Passport Critics
• Embassy E-mail Account Vulnerability Exposes Passport Data and ...
• Encryption Still Good; Sleeping Mode Not So Much, PGP Says
• Controversial RFID Report Approved
• Chertoff reiterates support for PASS Card and national ID
• Homeland Security Website Hacked by Phishers? 15 Signs Say Yes ...
• National ID Card Regulations Issued -- UPDATED
• Maine Rejects ID Law, Montana to Follow?

Full post as published by Threat Level on September 22, 2008 (boomark / email).