Identity Theft From Tossed Airline Boarding Pass?

crush writes "The Guardian newspaper has a great story about how the gathering of information for 'anti-terrorist' passenger screening databases allowed a reporter and security guru Adam Laurie to lay the groundwork for stealing the identity of a business traveller by using his discarded boarding-pass stub." From the article: "We logged on to the BA website, bought a ticket in Broer's name and then, using the frequent flyer number on his boarding pass stub, without typing in a password, were given full access to all his personal details - including his passport number, the date it expired, his nationality (he is Dutch, living in the UK) and his date of birth. The system even allowed us to change the information."

Comments

Shenanigans

[eldavojohn]

The system even allowed us to change the information....

That's right, (*snicker*) Broer is now a 38 year old pregnant mother of four from Belgrade with a passport that expired in 1983. Let's see how long it takes him to figure out he's the victim of identity mod!

I doubt "Mrs." Broer will ever throw away her airplane ticket stub again!

Modern Living Lesson One: Shred Everything

[digitaldc]

I even shred my scratch pad, sticky notes and code written on napkins.

Re:Halal == potential terrorist?

[Phisbut]

I didn't think the US did racial profiling - this is quite sad for Muslims

Sometimes it's not on purpose, they just freak out when they hear or see certain things... a guy over here started taking the required action to have his name legally changed a couple of years ago... his first name being Jihad, you can guess the reaction he gets in airports when they ask his name.

So yeah, some people are flagged just based on their name.

Re:Boycott

[iago]

I'm just happy Richard Reid wasn't the underwear bomber.

Shredder

[pkluss]

I haven't seen him in forever. All he does is hang out with Krang in Dimension X anymore...

Re:Real ID act

[More Trouble]

"Well how do they hope to stop terrorists with this?"

So paper is not sufficient to stop terrorists. But if it's laminated...!

:w

Re:Shredders aren't that great

[santiago]

We hand the shredded paper to our pet rats to use as bedding. This imparts it with a certain ambience that discourages any further perusal, while simultaneously providing the little ones with nest-building fun.

Re:That story scares me.

[aonaran]

You don't need US visas to overfly US airspace.

Slight amendment...

You CURRENTLY don't need US visas to overfly US airspace. ...there's no telling what the policy will be next week though.