A hacker group claimed to breach a platform used for submitting tips about criminal events, asserting more than 8 million confidential tips have been compromised. According to the hackers, going by the name Internet Yiff Machine, this sensitive data totals 93 gigabytes and was taken from P3 Global Intel (P3), a tip intelligence platform and an arm of Navigate360. At this time, Navigate360 is investigating the possibility that it has “experienced an incident involving [its] computer network and, if so, the extensiveness of the incident and the information involved.” 

Navigate360 provides tips and leads solutions for federal agencies, the military, law enforcement and schools. According to Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets), a transparency website and active public library of hacked and leaked datasets, statements made by the subsidiary P3 are being contradicted by the leaked dataset. 

“While P3 says that the communications on the system are encrypted, however the data was allegedly retrieved in plaintext,” DDoSecrets states. “P3 also claims that the tip collection and messaging process is anonymous, however the data indicates that administrators are secretly given the ability to de-anonymize users.”

“This is flat out unacceptable,” comments Michael Bell, Founder & CEO of Suzu Labs. “People reported on cartel trafficking and sexual assault through this platform because they were promised anonymity, and P3 was storing their information with unencrypted passwords while quietly letting clients request tipster IP addresses.”  

The hackers included a statement with the leaked dataset. The group says clients of P3 include Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S Air Force, U.S Secret Service, U.S Department of Justice, and more. A portion of the statement reads, “Remember folks, don’t do the dirty work for the pigs. Investigating crime is their job, not yours. They don’t care about you, they want convictions and prisoners to fuel the for-profit prisons.”