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What Examples of Security Theater Have You Encountered?
swillden writes "Everyone who pays any attention at all to security, both computer security and 'meatspace' security, has heard the phrase Security Theater. For years I've paid close attention to security setups that I come in contact with, and tried to evaluate their real effectiveness vs their theatrical aspects. In the process I've found many examples of pure theater, but even more cases where the security was really a cover for another motive." swillden would like to know what you've encountered along these lines; read on for the rest of his question below.
swillden continues: "Recently, a neighbor uncovered a good example. He and his wife attended a local semi-pro baseball game where security guards were checking all bags for weapons. Since his wife carries a small pistol in her purse, they were concerned that there would be a problem. They decided to try anyway, and see if her concealed weapon permit satisfied the policy. The guard looked at her gun, said nothing and passed them in, then stopped the man behind them because he had beer and snacks in his bag. Park rules prohibit outside food. It's clear what the 'security' check was really about: improving park food vending revenues.
So, what examples of pure security theater have you noticed? Even more interesting, what examples of security-as-excuse have you seen?"
So, what examples of pure security theater have you noticed? Even more interesting, what examples of security-as-excuse have you seen?"
While creating an intranet for the company I was doing some outside work for I ran into a problem authenticating through their antiquated AD system. Rather than updating everything or heaven forbid give management an actual password to remember my instructions were to "make it as scary as possible but don't actually put a password on it." I had a four tiered authentication system which would allow you to move forward regardless of what was put in the text boxes. They loved it, and a little piece of me died when I cashed the check.
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
The libraries let you sign your own books out. You place your book and card under a scanner, and then it demagnetizes the book so the alarms won't go off when you leave. The scanner only reads a barcode though, so you can stick five books on it, sign out one, and demagnetize them all. Presto, four free books.
Of course, when the security alarms do go off at the library anyway, they just let the people walk out.
On my bank's web site, when I used the browser's back button, things started to get out of sync. You had to click their own custom back button somewhere in the pages so that everything would continues to work.
When I called to report it, I was explained that I had to click their own back button, not mine. When I said "Yes, I know, I just wanted to let you know so that you can fix the bug sometime", the final answer was something like "It's by design. It's for security reasons". At that point I was expected to say "ok. thank you" or whatever, and to understand that a "bug" was totally unthinkable on their super-reliable ultra-secure blah blah bank site.
Nevertheless, a few months later, the bug was gone. I didn't call back to say I'm now worried about the security...
I was living in Salt Lake City during these games. Remember that the Olympics were only a few months after 9/11. There were huge security concerns. We saw low flying helicopters over the city we were told were searching for nuclear material. We saw various 'special forces' teams deployed in the mountains around venues looking for 'snipers.' The security downtown was surreal. People were checking every car coming in and out for bombs. Everyone had to go through metal detectors (in some cases, you actually had to pass two layers of metal detectors). The amount of government agents per city block was astounding. Many were armed with sub-machine guns. For such a quiet city like Salt Lake, seeing troops walk around in full combat gear was quite theatrical.
My favorite security theatric was an ATF agent standing on a street corner, machine gun in hand and in full combat gear. He was waving and smiling at people driving buy to be sure they all saw him and his gun. I stopped and watched him for about 20 minutes before he started using his radio while giving me the 'killer' eyes. Despite the smiling and waving, he was not friendly, not at all. I decided to vacate my vantage point. Those guys were so bored they were looking for targets to harass.
Patriot Act
I had some stock options through my job that I tried to cash through the etrade account that had been set up for me. The stock price was rather high, and our trading window was about to close, so I tried selling at literally the last minute. The sell order failed, and no reason was given. A few days later, I received a letter in the mail from etrade telling me that my account was locked. Several years before, while living in a different state, I had an etrade account. Because the SSN was the same on both accounts, but the addresses were totally different, some part of the Patriot Act made them lock my account until I could prove my identity by sending them a notarized copy of my social security card.
Another example, which isn't really security theater, just shitty work by the TSA happened to me a few years before that.
My wife had to fly out of state for a funeral, and she took our 6 month old daughter with her. I took them to the ticket counter. Since she was traveling with a baby, a car seat, and her carry on bag, the ticket agent offered to print me a pass that would allow me to accompany her to the gate and help her carry her things.
As I was getting up to the xray machines, I remembered that I had a small pocket knife in my pocket. I hadn't removed it since I wasn't expecting to go through security. As I got to the xray machine, I told the operator what had happened, and told her that I'd just go back through the line and put the knife out in our car.
She seemed ok with that, and told me that I could just go ahead and go through the xray machine, and out the exit that was just a few feet from the xray machine, so I didn't have to go back and work my way through the line.
As soon as I went through, several TSA agents came up and detained me for attempting to bring a weapon through the security checkpoint. I wound up being searched, my 6 month old daughter that I was holding was searched, and I was questioned for about an hour as to why I had tried to take a knife through security. Not once did they go talk to the lady running the xray machine less than 50 feet away, who had told me to go through.
In the end, my knife was confiscated (It was about a $50 knife), and I was threatened that I could be under arrest for attempting to smuggle a weapon through the airport, and I could be facing a several thousand dollar fine for it. They filled out a report, and made me immediately leave the terminal.
About a month later, I received a letter from the TSA saying that they had chosen not to fine me this time, but if I ever came up in their system again I would face the maximum penalties.
That was the day that I lost all faith in our government.
In a past life, I worked for a major aerospace company. Security appeared pretty tight, what with armed guards checking IDs at entry points. They also had manned checkpoints to check vehicle passes at the road entrances. These were usually issued to upper management, enabling them to park inside the fence, close to the buildings. The peons had to park outside and walk in.
Because of my job in various R&D labs, I was always hauling equipment around in my personal vehicle. There were provisions to issue employees in my position a temporary vehicle pass and a 'parcel pass', allowing us to transport company equipment through the gates.
Throughout my career, I was never ever challenged when exiting a facility with a hatchback, obviously loaded with expensive equipment. The vehicle pass system existed only to ensure that some scumbag grunt didn't park in a manager's space. Security guards were nothing more than glorified parking enforcement.
At some of the production facilities, gate guards were instructed to examine lunch boxes of the workers exiting to ensure that they were not swiping tools. Briefcases were exempt from such checks, as they were typically carried by trusted engineers and management. As most of the engineers working within production facilities were indistinguishable from mechanics by dress or any badge markings, I suppose it never occurred to security that a worker intent on swiping tools could obtain a briefcase.
Have gnu, will travel.
I have a friend who works for *organization*. They work in a
single-story building, in a suburb of a second-tier city. The building
sits on its own plot of land, on a hill, in an industrial-office-park
kind of area. The building is a lab, but it's mostly monitoring
equipment. It's not weapons, or explosives, or significant quantities
of chemicals.
This is probably not what anyone would consider a high-value target.
There's never been any kind of attack or threat against the building
or its personnel. But after 9-11, management started obsessing about
security.
The first thing they did was get armed guards for the building. Armed
guards did not make my friend feel secure. My friend wondered about
their training and worried about getting shot.
Guard duty is tough. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter,
and the guards aren't in good condition to begin with, since they just
stand there all day and never get any exercise. In practice, the
guards spend most of their time sitting in their cars in front of the
building, with the engine running for heat or AC.
Management decided that this didn't look good, so they built a guard
shack along the right-hand side of the driveway. Now the guard sits in
the shack and watches the cars go by.
But that didn't seem very secure either--a bad guy could just drive
right by without stopping
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Beirut_barracks_bombing).
So they added a gate, and spikes, and a card reader. To pass, an
employee stops at the gate, rolls down their window and swipes their
card. The gate goes up, the spikes retract, and they drive through.
My friend doesn't trust this system a bit, and makes a point of
watching to see that the spikes have retracted before driving over
them. There was speculation among the staff as to who would be the
first to blow out their tires on the spikes. As it happenes, it was
the mailman, followed some time later by two visitors who either
didn't see or didn't understand the signs warning against following
another vehicle through the gate.
I suggested that they stencil silhouettes of all the vehicles they've
caught on the guard shack, the way fighter pilots (used to?) record
kills on the nose of their airplanes.
My friend points out that even with a gate and spikes, the system only
protects against attackers who
- care about their tires, and
- don't have trucks
because any vehicle can blow through the gate and make it the short
distance to the building on four flat tires, and any truck can drive
over the curb and avoid the whole thing.
Management decided that blowing out their visitors' tires was
unfriendly, so they instituted a new procedure for passing the gate.
Now, drivers stop at the gate and roll down their window. The guard
walks from the shack (on the right), in front of the car, to the card
reader (on the left), takes the driver's card, swipes it, and returns
it to the driver. Then the driver can pass.
The staff considered that the guards were now at risk of being run
over--and it happened. An employee reached down in his car to get his
card, his foot came off the brake, and the car rolled forward into the
guard. The guard was taken to hospital--I don't think the injuries
were too serious. The driver has to appear in court and pay fines--I
don't know if it is criminal or civil.
This is beyond security theater. This is real damage.
Every year, my lady and I go up to Canada for the 4th of July weekend to escape the annual (and mostly illegal, under local city codes) fireworks war-zone that infests our neighborhood. We've been doing this for several years, and in fact we both just got our NEXUS cards.
To help put this in context: I'm a ham radio operator, as well as a volunteer first-responder. I've had formal training, through our city's fire department, in disaster relief, emergency medical procedures, basic search-and-rescue, the whole bit.
Because of the above, our minivan is well-equipped for emergencies. I've installed multiple communication radios, a navigation computer, and I carry a medical trauma kit and various safety gear such as flares and a reflective vest. Besides the small antenna farm on the roof, I also have a light bar mounted on the back end (amber, red, clear... same as many tow trucks).
Every bit of it is legal under the road laws of every state except New York (I know, because I spent a couple of long nights going through said laws to make bloody sure!). Couple all that with the fact that I work for our state's police agency (non-commissioned, civil service).
Now, with all the above in mind -- Last year, we're coming back through on Sunday afternoon. I normally have the radios and navigation system on while driving, and this has never, in times past, been an issue.
Not this year. The border guard we drew seemed to be short on both sleep and temper, and rudely ordered me to turn EVERYthing off before he would even talk to us. One of the questions he asked, after that point, was who I worked for. When I told him, he said (snappily) that, for that reason alone, I should understand why he'd told me to turn everything off.
He let us move on at that point, but before I took off I told him, flat out, "No, I don't understand."
And it was the honest truth! If someone's going to try and set off something that goes bang via radio, or other wireless means, it strikes me that they're going to go to considerable effort to keep such activities hidden. They certainly would not do so in a hugely-long border-crossing line, where there was absolutely no way to move anywhere but through the guard posts, in a minivan that stands out like a solar flare and has ham radio callsign plates to boot!
I have no clear idea why this guard was so nasty, or what bizarre purpose his attitude served. I will say that it did indeed strike me as pure theater.
The only thing I can think of is that, perhaps, his sergeant or lieutenant was observing him at the time, and we didn't notice...?
Keep the peace(es).
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
"Jokes are funny."
Ironically, jokes don't have to be funny to be a joke, it just helps.
You on the other hand need to buy a life, and you might want to pick up a side of sense of humor with the change.
"it is not funny because they are using technical terms in an incorrect way that detracts from their intention."
There are many comics that do that with their humor, you might even want to say that it's the unexpected use of definition that makes it fucking funny, dumbass.
I'm sorry, that was harsh~
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The office had a second door with a peep hole into the laundry. To give the camera an air of legitimacy, she sat in the office one night and made a note of everyone who came into the laundry. When they came in to pay their rent the next week, she mentioned that she saw them doing their laundry on the "tape" and asked about a fictitious mess that was left.
She managed to do this to a couple of the complex gossips, and never had a problem in there again.
I was an intelligence analyst in the NJ Army National Guard until my contract ended in 2006.
We were deployed twice to protect Port Authority facilities around NY and NJ. On both deployment we had our weapons M16A2s or pistols. On our second deployment we were not given ammunition. Yes, we were walking around in uniforms holding empty rifles.
The best we could do is radio the Port Authority Police or possible club someone trying to steal our weapons. Our combat effectiveness was slightly above that of Nerf.
Welcome to the land of the free...pay toll ahead...no photography...please open your bag...
I just got back from TRAFFIC court.... I had to go through security very similar to the airport so I could walk up to a window which was 15 feet from the front door. I walked through the front door, five feet later I was being scanned, searched and forced to return to my car because my 1 inch pocket knife was a threat, then when I got past that crap I had to stand in line and wait to talk to someone behind a window. I saw no rational reason for any of this...
Traffic court is now very "secure"
Not having flown a commercial airliner recently, I'd completely forgotten about the liquid/aerosol rule and decided to carry my luggage onboard. After standing in line for awhile, I noticed the signs and remembered. Crap! I had my mouthwash, an aerosol can of deodorant, and my aerosol shaving cream with me. Given the length the line had grown to, I decided to just forgo those items than risk being late.
A bit about those three items. Both the shaving cream and deodorant were in aerosol cans, both larger than the size allowed, but obviously retail items. The mouthwash was too large as well, and was a generic amber bottle, about 14 or so ounces, with a prescription sticker (I have gingivitis).
I pull all three items out, and just tell the TSA guy that I know I need to toss them. He glances at all three and tells me I have to ditch the deodorant and the shaving cream, but I can keep the mouthwash.
Because it's prescription.
So, the two retail aerosol cans that are nearly impossible to inject anything into are verboten, but the amber bottle with the mystery liquid in it, that's okay, because it has a sticker with a Walgreens logo on it. Fan-fucking-tastic.
Apparently all the ones that changed their minds were on the planes.
I don't see wave after wave of people trying to storm our beaches, rape our infidel women or blow up idolatrous symbols of capitalistic greed over here.
The only reason "they" are relevant any more is that "they" are today's Commie Pinko Red Bastards.
"They" are a useful scare tactic, and that's it. I might care once they start killing more people over here than amount that die to three wheeled volkswagen eurkel-mobile collisions.
For the longest time, I was on the "do not fly" list. I never knew why, but my name is very common. Turns out somebody used an alias the same as my name in the Bahamas to commit international wire fraud - I found this out when it took 6 hours to open a $100 bank account. It wasn't identity theft - just coincidence.
So here I am, not only taking my shoes off, but also being escorted to the back room for the "enhanced" security check every time I fly on an airliner. The only problem is that I'm an FAA-licensed pilot, and have all the clearance to enter just about any area of the airport! (once I get past the extended searchdown, that is)
What a joke...
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
some will work if you blow on the glass.
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
The most recent example of this was when the German Chaos Computer Club published the fingerprints of Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany's Innenminister (sort of like the UK home secretary or the USA's DHS head). They even distributed it as a film with their magazine, since there is no law against publishing fingerprints.
This English-language article at Heise Online gives all of the gory details...