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RFID Passports Still Broken – Only Faster Now

Wireless data is easy to steal. Why did we put it on our passports again?
(Image is in the Public Domain)

Schneier links to an article about RFID passports being cloned in under 5 minutes. The authorities have stopped denying it's possible and have shifted to denying that it can be used for any nefarious purposes.

The UK Home Office however dismissed the ability to get hold of the information on the chip. A spokesman said: "It is hard to see why anyone would want to access the information on the chip. " Other than the photograph, which could be obtained easily by other means, they would gain no information that they did not already have - so the whole exercise would be pointless: the only information stored on the ePassport chip is the basic information you can see on the personal details page."

Well, it sure is hard to see why anyone would want to see someone's credit report, criminal history, medical information, social security card, birth certificate… Are these people for real?

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College Student Proves TSA “Boarding Pass/ID Check is Useless”

I never thought about it, but it's much easier to defeat TSA security than I realized.
(Image is in the Public Domain)

Bruce Schnier found an intereting article in the NY Times about a bored computer science student wrote a webpage that printed nearly identical boarding passes to those used by Northwest Airlines. Using the fake passes, people were successfully able to bypass airport security. The important part of this article, is the fact that the student did no hacking, no cracking, no breaking of any system. All he did was make passes that looked real.

No cryptographic recipe was cracked; no airline computer system was compromised. Without visiting an airport, Mr. Soghoian needed access to nothing other than a public Web site to embarrass those responsible for airport security.

As security professionals have been saying for years, these measures make life difficult for law-abiding citizens, but do little to stop the bad guys.

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Boeing Loses Data on Laptops… Yadda Yadda

Oops. Sorry about all your data gosh golly wilikers!
(Image is used under the Pixabay license)

Consumer Affairs writes:

A laptop containing the personal information of 328,000 current and former employees of Boeing was stolen in Chicago, according to the company. The laptop theft was the third to befall Boeing in the past twelve months. Boeing is contacting the affected employees by mail and has promised to set up free credit monitoring for them through the Experian credit bureau.
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|INDEX|next: The Consequences of Posting Online
Online Addiction: From gambling to surfing and online gaming, people can destroy themselves and others with online addiction.
Posting Online: The Internet never forgets anything completely. Make sure you don't make mistakes that will stick with you for the rest of your life.
Protecting Photos: The Internet never forgets anything completely. Make sure you don't make mistakes that will stick with you for the rest of your life.
Getting Tricked: You WERE doing fine... until someone convinced you to install a virus or give away your passwords. Don't fall for it!
Account Hijacking: One of the most common security risks today is people getting their accounts taken over and then used to trick their friends and family.
Trusting Webservices: An online service promises they'll 'Never abuse or misuse your data' and you believe them? Think again.

... or check out any of my other guides and tutorials by clicking here!

Online Addiction

Concerned about online addiction? You should be. Learn the types, the signs, and the preventions.

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The Consequences of Posting Online

It's fun to post online. What you think, what you feel. But words typed and posted on the Internet can come back to bite you more than anything you could say with your mouth.

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Photo Safety

You can reveal far more than you intended when you post a photo online. Don't make a critical mistake and check your photos before they're online.

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Tricks and Scams

Just because you won't willing give up data doesn't mean that I can't trick you out of it. Don't fall for these well known tricks!

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Account Hijacking

One of the newest threats we face is the risk of someone getting control of your online account and using it against you and the people you know. Do everything you can to prevent that from happening!

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Trusting Companies

Store, online or off, are not known for being fair and helpful unless it benefits them to be so. Good deals exist, but many are bad deals in disguise. It's not in your best interests to be too trusting with any of them.

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