Thousands of fingerprints and facial images linked to police in India have been exposed online. Researchers say it’s a warning of what will happen as the collection of biometric data increases.

Got some time to read the article: I am sure, that India is not an exception in leaking and being in deep shit in regards to storing sensitive data.

Seems that we should assume that we cannot prevent data leaks. So the question is - how can we deal with the aftermath?

A Leak of Biometric Police Data Is a Sign of Things to Come

Highlights

Thousands of law enforcement officials and people applying to be police officers in India have had their personal information leaked online—including fingerprints, facial scan images, signatures, and details of tattoos and scars on their bodies.

While the misconfigured server has now been closed off, the incident highlights the risks of companies collecting and storing biometric data, such as fingerprints and facial images, and how they could be misused if the data is accidentally leaked.

“A lot of data is collected in India, but nobody’s really bothered about how to store it properly,” Narayan says. Data breaches are happening so regularly that people have “lost that surprise shock factor,”

So many other countries are looking at biometric verification for identities, and all of that information has to be stored somewhere,” Fowler says. “If you farm it out to a third-party company, or a private company, you lose control of that data. When a data breach happens, you’re in deep shit, for lack of a better term.