UK Visa Portal is publicly releasing the passports and selfies of applicants who register and pay for a British immigrant visa, TechCrunch has learned.
An anonymous person told TechCrunch about the security breach, saying the website exposed at least 100,000 documents of people who uploaded their passports and selfies to the website as part of the application process.
The website is not affiliated with the UK government and some of them there is he complained that they paid this company by mistake instead using the official GOV.UK website.
TechCrunch confirmed it UK Visa Portal source of the data breach and verified the authenticity of the exposed data by contacting the affected individuals and asking them if their information was correct.
The UK Visa Portal does not have the ability to report security issues through its website, nor does it have names or contact information for company management on its website. TechCrunch sent an email to the address listed on the United Kingdom’s Visa Portal website, alerting the company to an ongoing security breach and asking who in management could receive specific details to fix the problem. Given the sensitivity of the disclosed data, TechCrunch explained that the company’s general customer support can’t share specifics with the inbox because it can’t guarantee that the exposed data won’t be misused.
Instead, TechCrunch heard back from the company’s alleged lawyers and public relations firm. TechCrunch reiterated that given the nature of the leaked files, it could only share the details directly with company management and asked them to contact TechCrunch.
TechCrunch has not heard back from the management of the British Visa Portal. The security breach has not yet been fixed.
While the security issue remains, TechCrunch believes it is in the public interest for people using the company’s services to be aware of the issue. TechCrunch does not publish specific details to minimize any additional risk to their data.
It is not necessary to use third-party services to apply for an electronic travel authorization in the UK, unless you retain an immigration lawyer and applicants Apply through the UK government website.
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