Data Leak: UK Visa Portal Exposes Passports and Selfies of Thousands of Applicants

UK Visa Portal, which positions itself as an intermediary for UK visa applications, has suffered a large-scale leak of users' confidential data. According to TechCrunch, scans of passports and photos of over 100,000 applicants, uploaded during the document submission process, were accessible on the site.

The issue was discovered by an anonymous whistleblower who alerted journalists to the unprotected data. The editorial team confirmed the authenticity of the leaked documents by contacting several affected individuals. Notably, UK Visa Portal is not affiliated with the official UK authorities, and some users mistakenly paid for services through this platform instead of using the government portal GOV.UK.

Attempts to notify the company about the vulnerability were unsuccessful. The website lacks contact information for reporting security issues, and reaching out to customer support does not guarantee protection against data misuse. Journalists received responses from representatives of a law firm and a PR agency, but the company's management has yet to respond. At the time of publication, the leak remains unresolved.

Experts remind that applying for an electronic entry permit to the UK does not require third-party services unless an immigration lawyer is involved. The official application process is available on the UK government website.