"Clear" Air-Travel Pass Data Stolen From SFO

Kozar_The_Malignant writes "A laptop containing the unencrypted security data for 33,000 travelers using the Clear system was stolen at San Francisco International Airport on July 26, according to CBS5 Television. The Clear system allows travelers who register and pay a $100.00 annual fee to speed through airport security by using a smart card at special kiosks in some airports. TSA has suspended new registrations in the system, which is run by a private contractor, Verified Identity Pass, Inc., a subsidiary of GE. The laptop was apparently stolen from a locked office at SFO. The company has now decided that it might be a good idea to encrypt the data in their systems. They are in the process of notifying customers that all of their personal data, including name, address, SSi number, passport number, date of birth, etc. has been compromised."

Comments

Re:$128, not $100

[krbvroc1]

The extra $28 was added to include a year of credit monitoring I think.

Re:$128, not $100

[seanonymous]

They charge a one-time fee of $28 to encode your data with an encryption algorithm known as 'plain text.'

It shouldn't matter, but it does

[sakdoctor]

Names, SSi number, date of birth .. we need to stop using all of these as ID right now.

My suggestion is this. At some appropriate age, say 16-18 where most countries seem to issue ID, we each choose and commit to memory a graph G, such that the chance of a collision in all earth population is close to zero. Then whenever we need to prove our ID for air-travel or whatever we just need to go though several rounds of identify proof where we generate an isomorphic graph H, and show EITHER isomorphism between H and G, or a Hamiltonian cycle in H. After a sufficient number of rounds your identity would be certain to the required probability and you could be on your way.

The technique to do this mentally could be taught in schools. It's THAT SIMPLE!

The system's name says it all

[copperconductor]

Dude, it's called "Clear" for a reason.

Re:Security theatre

[Devil's BSD]

Refusing to give away address, email, phones, SSID along with fingerprints is almost considered a crime in itself right now

I have no problem giving you my SSID, it's the WPA2 key that I have a problem giving out ;)

Private information stolen from CLEAR

[Anonymous Coward]

See, this is exactly why I gave them a fake name, address, and SSN when I enrolled in CLEAR.

Simple solution

[John Hasler]

Just add all those names to the no-fly list.