Experts Warn About Security Flaws In Airline Boarding Passes

concealment writes in with a story about a newly found security issue with the bar codes on boarding passes. "Flight enthusiasts, however, recently discovered that the bar codes printed on all boarding passes — which travelers can obtain up to 24 hours before arriving at the airport — contain information on which security screening a passenger is set to receive. Details about the vulnerability spread after John Butler, an aviation blogger, drew attention to it in a post late last week. Butler said he had discovered that information stored within the bar codes of boarding passes is unencrypted, and so can be read in advance by technically minded travelers. Simply by using a smartphone or similar device to check the bar code, travelers could determine whether they would pass through full security screening, or the expedited process."

Comments

Re:Profiling

[PerformanceDude]

Actually - for many years when I was traveling in the US, if (and only if) my boarding pass had SSSS printed on it, I would be subjected to extra screening. The SSSS would be printed in large clear letters on the document. I don't know what genius came up with that advance warning, but it sure as hell would tell a wannabe terrorist not to go through with his plan and try again some other time. The people managing these processes really need to think such things through a little bit better.