A “private and secure” face-search tool left 9 million photos exposed

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A people-search tool that promises “private and secure” searches left more than 9 million image files exposed online, including photos of people’s faces. A security researcher found the unprotected database, according to reports by WIRED and Digital Trends.

The tool is ClarityCheck, a service that lets someone upload a photo to identify the person in it. Its website tells users that “your reverse image search is private and secure”. The researcher, Jeremiah Fowler, published his findings through ExpressVPN. Fowler is known for finding unsecured databases left open on the internet.

The exposed store held about 450GB of data and needed no password to open, Fowler reported. That is a large trove for a mid-sized consumer service. Many files sat in folders labelled “faces” and “profiles”. They included profile photos, screenshots and other images of adults, teenagers and children.

Fowler put the total at more than 9 million files. The...

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