ODIN Intelligence is a technology company that makes database software for law enforcement. Its primary products are SONAR (Sex Offender Notification and Registration), SweepWizard (for law enforcement raids), and HMIS (Homeless Management Information System). HMIS includes
facial recognition Facial recognition or face recognition may refer to:
*Face detection, often a step done before facial recognition
*Face perception, the process by which the human brain understands and interprets the face
*Pareidolia, which involves, in part, seein ...
for identification. The company's private data, including raids and personally identifiable information, was documented in a breach in January 2023.
Company history
Erik McCauley is the founder and CEO.
After the company's private databases were exposed in early January 2023,
TechCrunch
TechCrunch is an American global online newspaper focusing on topics regarding high tech, high-tech and Startup company, startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare.
I ...
reported about three leaked databases totaling approximately 16 gigabytes that were published and verified by
Distributed Denial of Secrets
Distributed Denial of Secrets, abbreviated DDoSecrets, is a nonprofit whistleblower site founded in 2018 for news leaks. The site is a frequent source for other news outlets and has worked on investigations including Cyprus Confidential with o ...
. AWS GovCloud
private keys
Public-key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, is the field of cryptographic systems that use pairs of related keys. Each key pair consists of a public key and a corresponding private key. Key pairs are generated with cryptographic alg ...
were published as well. The data included tactical plans for police raids, police reports, a forensic extraction report,
AFR Engine data, and audio from raids, dating from 2011 to December 2022.
On January 15, the company's website was defaced in January 2023 in response to McCauley's dismissing of the data breach. The website was taken down on January 19 and remains offline as of January 22.
On January 17, the company acknowledged the data breach to the California Attorney General's Office.
The company also removed Apple and Android apps.
The company's website stated their products were
Criminal Justice Information Services–compliant, which was also documented to at least one customer; ''
Wired
Wired may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976
* ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993
* ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017
* "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street''
* "Wired ...
'' stated it was clearly not compliant.
SweepWizard
SweepWizard is used to track and coordinate police raids.
SweepWizard was used in a 64-agency effort,
Operation Protect the Innocent, which rounded up over 600 suspected sex offenders in September 2022.
Data from SweepWizard was found exposed in the January 2023 data breach, including
personal identifying information
Personal data, also known as personal information or personally identifiable information (PII), is any information related to an identifiable person.
The abbreviation PII is widely used in the United States, but the phrase it abbreviates has fou ...
on over 5000 individuals and social security numbers for over 1000 individuals.
WIRED
Wired may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976
* ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993
* ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017
* "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street''
* "Wired ...
verified the unauthenticated API endpoint that returned breached data; in response, CEO McCauley stated "we have been unable to reproduce the alleged security compromise to any ODIN system".
HMIS
HMIS, or Homeless Management Information System, is used to catalog homeless populations, including demographic data, interaction tracking, criminal and warrant history, and labels such as "needles", "assaultive", and "registered sex offender".
A company brochure for the product states "Police use ODIN facial recognition to identify even non-verbal or intoxicated individuals".
SOMS
SONAR (Sex Offender Notification and Registration) or SOMS (Sex Offender Management System) is used to register
sex offenders
A sex offender (sexual offender, sex abuser, or sexual abuser) is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crime ...
.
References
External links
*
* {{YouTube, channel=UCIrE0_cZK4aLyyxSojpOTdQ, ODIN Intelligence, LLC}
archive.org channel archive
Security breaches
Law enforcement databases in the United States
Distributed Denial of Secrets