Thousands of Irish passports linked to Spanish cannabis clubs were 'freely viewable' online
An Irish software company, Cannabis Club Systems, left a database containing nearly one million personal IDs, including 12,000 Irish passports, exposed online. The data, used for verifying members of Spanish cannabis clubs, was accessible for several weeks before the vulnerability was addressed.
Why it matters
This incident highlights the significant data privacy risks associated with third-party software providers and the vulnerability of sensitive personal identification documents.
VULNERABILITIES FOUND IN an online database may have seen as many as 12,000 Irish passports sitting in the open and at risk of being picked up by hackers.
The passports are believed to have belonged to users of so-called ‘cannabis members-only clubs’ in Spain. They are understood to be among almost one million passports and photo IDs that could be publicly accessed for a period in May and June, and potentially longer.
An Irish-registered software company called Cannabis Club Systems (CCS), also known as Nefos Solutions, was in charge of the data.
The Data Protection Commisisoner’s office told The Journal that it has been engaging with the company after the concerns came to light.
The company has said there was no evidence that any outsider accessed the data after the initial vulnerability was reported.
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