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ZDNet Exclusive: Leaked data reveals many police departments are unable to respond in an active shooter situation.
A data breach at a federally funded active shooter training center has exposed the personal data of thousands of US law enforcement officials, ZDNet has learned.
The cache of data contained identifiable information on local and state police officers, and federal agents, who sought out or underwent active shooter response training in the past few years. The backend database powers the website of Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training -- known as ALERRT -- at Texas State University.
The database dates back to April 2017 and was uploaded a year later to a web server, believed to be owned by the organization, with no password protection.
ZDNet obtained a copy of the database, which was first found by a New Zealand-based data breach hunter, who goes by the pseudonym Flash Gordon.
Working with federal agencies like the FBI, the Texas-based organization provides training to law enforcement and civilians around the US in an effort to prevent or disrupt active shooter incidents. Since its inception in 2002, ALERRT has received tens of millions of dollars in funding from the Justice Department, Homeland Security, and several state governments.
[...] The database contained thousands of personal data records, including law enforcement officer's work contact information, with many of the records listing personal email addresses, work addresses, and cell numbers.
[...] tables included requests made by law enforcement reaching out to the organization for help through its web form. In doing so, many officials volunteered highly sensitive information about deficiencies in their jurisdiction, revealing their department's lack of training or capabilities.
[...] One police department openly admitted that it "doesn't have a full-time SWAT team," and is unable to respond to an active shooter situation. An ALERRT staffer responded, saying that the organization "couldn't facilitate his request at this time."
Source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/a-massive-cache-of-law-enforcement-personnel-data-has-leaked/
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 02 2018, @02:58PM (6 children)
Does your town not have a procedure to call on additional resources as necessary? Most places I know of the Sheriff's Department has such a team available to respond to local incidents (and/or organizes a coordinated local response of several different departments). Or do you just let the shooter take out the entire school?
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 02 2018, @03:17PM
We don't need SWAT teams for that. We just need armed citizens. Regular joes with guns.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday July 02 2018, @05:15PM (4 children)
Oh, you mean go with the old "when seconds count, the police are only minutes away" deal? Pass, thanks. Any time you take away people's ability to resolve their problems themselves and force them to rely on the government, you've absolutely, without question ensured that their problems will get much, much worse.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday July 02 2018, @06:11PM (3 children)
That's not actually true. The problem is with the "always". And with the lack of analysis into the nature of the problem. I sure don't want my neighbors freely disposing of cyanide. I don't want to be personally responsible for maintaining the street in front of my house. (And I don't want my neighbors doing it as they choose, either.)
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday July 02 2018, @07:49PM (2 children)
Your examples are both inapplicable. Your neighbors are almost certainly not capable of disposing of cyanide without killing themselves and everyone on the block, we're talking about taking away people's right to do something they're capable of doing. Ditto the roads with the addendum that you absolutely can build and maintain your own roads if you do it on your own land.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday July 02 2018, @10:47PM (1 child)
As it happens, I live in a city, and I legally own the land out to the middle of the road. And no, I can't, and shouldn't, be able to control how that road is paved.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday July 02 2018, @11:06PM
Sort of. Eminent domain and easement laws make that not precisely the case. But that's off-point enough that I won't go into my feelings on eminent domain and easement laws.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.