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TSA Master Keys

schneier.com

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Re: TSA Master Keys

#11

Post by flavor8 »

tempodox wrote: post #6

Not only is this another impressive demonstration of incompetence, but by disseminating the idea that people's luggage could be “secure” and “backdoored” at the same time, they're actually destroying what security has existed before. They should pivot to be the “Transport Endangerment Agency”.

Most luggage isn't really secure in the first place. It takes less time to open up a suitcase with a good knife than it does to unzip many suitcases. The idea that a little padlock will protect your suitcase from thieves is laughable. Like physical mail, the system is based on trust, and trying to patch security onto it is difficult.

Re: TSA Master Keys

#12

Post by Spooky23 »

The whole proposition here is ridiculous. "we must assume any adversary can open any TSA "lock""

No shit.

We're not talking about a bank vault here -- it's luggage. Does anyone, anywhere, have any expectation whatsoever that a luggage lock provides meaningful security? I think I opened my mom's luggage lock with my sister's hairpin when I was 6 years old, and I have zero lock picking skills.

Re: TSA Master Keys

#13

Post by aneidon »

flavor8 wrote: post #11
tempodox wrote: post #6

Not only is this another impressive demonstration of incompetence, but by disseminating the idea that people's luggage could be “secure” and “backdoored” at the same time, they're actually destroying what security has existed before. They should pivot to be the “Transport Endangerment Agency”.

Most luggage isn't really secure in the first place. It takes less time to open up a suitcase with a good knife than it does to unzip many suitcases. The idea that a little padlock will protect your suitcase from thieves is laughable. Like physical mail, the system is based on trust, and trying to patch security onto it is difficult.

Sure, but if someone cuts your suitcase open with a knife it'll be much more obvious than if they used the master key to open it and then zipped it shut again.

Re: TSA Master Keys

#15

Post by harkyns_castle »

cryoshon wrote: post #4
harkyns_castle wrote: post #2

Seems to still be a lot being done in the name of security theater in the US, and just wasting dollars on the TSA, for what appears to be very little effect. Who's really profiting there? Is it just for the employment of people that otherwise wouldn't have a job? Or are the majority of citizens there really made to feel more secure by having them? I'd have to say some defense contractor is getting a bit fatter off th…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chertoff#Body_scanners "Michael Chertoff has been an advocate of enhanced technologies, such as full body scanners.[25] His lobbying firm Chertoff Group (founded 2009) represents manufacturers of the scanners.[26][27]" "Michael Chertoff (born November 28, 1953) is an American attorney who was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security under Presidents George W. Bush…

It's bizarre it can happen. Surely the wheels have to fall off that out of control cart soon.

Re: TSA Master Keys

#16

Post by Spooky23 »

harkyns_castle wrote: post #2

Seems to still be a lot being done in the name of security theater in the US, and just wasting dollars on the TSA, for what appears to be very little effect. Who's really profiting there? Is it just for the employment of people that otherwise wouldn't have a job? Or are the majority of citizens there really made to feel more secure by having them? I'd have to say some defense contractor is getting a bit fatter off th…

The upshot of TSA is that because it's a single government organization, it's easy to identify the costs and quality of operations.

Pre-TSA, we were wasting the same or more amount of money on private contractors of dubious quality. But you didn't really know how much, as the cost was spread across thousands of airline/airport authorities/municipal government combinations.

Re: TSA Master Keys

#17

Post by coldpie »

Spooky23 wrote: post #12

The whole proposition here is ridiculous. "we must assume any adversary can open any TSA "lock"" No shit. We're not talking about a bank vault here -- it's luggage. Does anyone, anywhere, have any expectation whatsoever that a luggage lock provides meaningful security? I think I opened my mom's luggage lock with my sister's hairpin when I was 6 years old, and I have zero lock picking skills.

The article isn't about the usefulness of TSA's locks, it's an allegory about backdoors, and another humorous take on the TSA's utter incompetence.

Re: TSA Master Keys

#19

Post by [deleted] »

aneidon wrote: post #13
flavor8 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most luggage isn't really secure in the first place. It takes less time to open up a suitcase with a good knife than it does to unzip many suitcases. The idea that a little padlock will protect your suitcase from thieves is laughable. Like physical mail, the system is based on trust, and trying to patch security onto it is difficult.

Sure, but if someone cuts your suitcase open with a knife it'll be much more obvious than if they used the master key to open it and then zipped it shut again.

[deleted]

Re: TSA Master Keys

#20

Post by cryoshon »

[deleted] wrote: post #9
harkyns_castle wrote: post #2

Seems to still be a lot being done in the name of security theater in the US, and just wasting dollars on the TSA, for what appears to be very little effect. Who's really profiting there? Is it just for the employment of people that otherwise wouldn't have a job? Or are the majority of citizens there really made to feel more secure by having them? I'd have to say some defense contractor is getting a bit fatter off th…

[deleted]

Naive response on multiple levels. An ad hominem implies that the criticism is superficial or irrelevant to the main issue. Money is the main cause from a realist point of view, not an accessory. Money waiting to be made is the first item in the chain of causation for many (most?) government projects.

The outline: problem in government that can be solved -> contractor group identifies problem -> contractor group contacts their lobbyist -> lobbyist lobbies government at right points -> contractor group gets contract to solve problem for far more $ than the problem is worth (usually) -> lobbyist can now find another job for the contractors as soon as they identify another problem.

Ask qui bono, ruthlessly. Follow the money from branch to root. Do some research on where the money is ending up, and you'll find who set the process in motion via corruption.

On a side note, Americans will never feel safe because there is a pervasive circus of media and behavioral memes which encourage fearfulness and paranoia. Have you ever seen the nightly news? Have you ever talked with a mom? We could be sitting alone in sterile jail cells, and people would still worry that the jail cell being cold might give us pneumonia.

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