On eBay you can find real bargains, even some that should not be found within one of the largest buying and selling platforms on the entire internet. Today has come to light what has been one of the most absurd cases of purchases made in eBay and involving the United States Army.

Before going fully into the matter, we are going to offer some context, the United States army used in Afghanistan, specifically in Kandahar, a device called a Secure Electronic Enrollment Kit or SEEK II. This device serves as a fingerprint and iris scanner, in addition to storing the collected information.

Taking into account the situation and the type of device, we found that the United States military had used one of these devices to perform fingerprint and iris scans on a huge number of people. After finishing the task, what was done was to save this device until, in the middle of 2022, it has resurfaced.

How does a device used more than ten years ago become relevant again? The answer is found in the information provided by The New York Times and in which it is narrated how Matthias MarxGerman security researcher, has bought this device for just 68 dollars with the result of finding confidential information of the US military.

Data stored more than ten years ago, the US military and eBay complete this story

As can be seen from what was exposed by The New York Times, what most caught Matthias Marx’s attention was the fact that there was no type of verification that the device did not contain privileged information. And, is that, the instrument that he acquired for just 66 euros contained information on 2,632 people.

This information included names, nationalities, photos, descriptions, fingerprints and iris records of all these people. The information logically supposes a huge violation in terms of privacy, even if these data are from people that the US military identified as terrorists or wanted persons.

And, it is that, despite the fact that much of the information fell within these areas, there was also data that belonged to civilians. The Defense Logistics Agency has offered a statement stating that these types of devices should be destroyed as soon as they are no longer used. and not end up on platforms like eBay.