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Is it safe to email photo ID?

  • 11-09-2020 8:34am
    #1
    buzz11
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 764 ✭✭✭


    Is it safe to email photo ID?

    It seems to becoming more common to be asked to email photo ID (drivers licence or passport) usually to verify address or some similar reason.

    Sometimes I get asked to send it by Whatsapp instead cos thats encrypted, but how safe is it?


Comments

  • #2
    Atlantic Dawn
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 84,725 ✭✭✭✭Atlantic Dawn
    M


    Depends who and why you are sending it. Some scammers may steal your identity to associate it with some item they are selling to make the buyer think they are legit.

    I'd be more concerned with why the end user wants it than the transmission to the end user.


  • #3
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 11,614 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I'd be more concerned about how your ID is treated after it's been received. Is it stored? Who has access to it? How long is it kept?

    Generally speaking, e-mail is as secure as a postcard. Certain people can read its contents while it's in transit. You have no idea whether someone has read it or not, so most people assume it's not been read.

    As Atlantic Dawn said, the question you need to ask yourself is, who are you sending the picture to? A main stream company, or a 'Mom and pop' kind of outfit?


  • #4
    buzz11
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 764 ✭✭✭buzz11


    Thanks -- good points.

    I was thinking of how safe are email transmissions between two computers not so much what happens afterwards.

    Since passports and driving licenses are all in the same format and structure, does that make it easier for hackers to locate while in transit?


  • #5
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 11,614 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    buzz11 wrote: »
    Thanks -- good points.

    I was thinking of how safe are email transmissions between two computers not so much what happens afterwards.

    Since passports and driving licenses are all in the same format and structure, does that make it easier for hackers to locate while in transit?

    No. Not without advanced pattern recognition. When its streaming through the ether, its just numbers.

    I attended a security conference a few years back and while giving my talk, just for fun while connected to the conference wifi ran a program called dragnet which sniffed the data flowing, identified pictures and displayed them on the projector. What appeared was a diverse collection of memes, porn and dog pics. Since the adoption of TLS/SSL on almost all sites, dragnet probably wouldn't get anything if I did that now.


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