# TSA-approved locks compromised



## CHamilton (Sep 10, 2015)

TSA goof renders its system for securing airline baggage completely useless



> All-in-all, aside from everyone having to buy new, cheesy locks for their luggage, the system has worked okay until now. This month, using a photo mistakenly allowed by the TSA — and published by The Washington Post — a enterprising solid modeler has uploaded a 3D-printable model for a master key. Now anyone with an upmarket 3D printer can make his or her own key. More importantly, the black market will no doubt be flooded with those keys as a result — rendering the several-hundred-million TSA-approved “Travel Sentry” locks not much more useful than cable ties.
> 
> If the problem only extended to airplane travel, that would at least limit the scope of the problem. But most travelers keep the TSA-approved locks on their bags during the rest of their trip — in hotels, taxis, or other public places — exposing them to theft throughout.


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## jis (Sep 10, 2015)

Another feather in the cap of the Keystone Kops er... TSA.


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## Devil's Advocate (Sep 10, 2015)

This is an excellent example of how the fundamental concept of a back door for the good guys is hopelessly flawed.


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## jis (Sep 10, 2015)

Specially considering that the said good guys break the TSA lock a third of the time anyway because they can't find their own key in a timely manner.


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## Bob Dylan (Sep 10, 2015)

Yep, not to mention their Multi- Million dollar machines that had to be mothballed due to radiation problems!

jis has it right, Keystone Cops Redux.

Might make a good Movie or TV Show in the vein of "Reno 911"!!


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## Devil's Advocate (Sep 10, 2015)

jimhudson said:


> Yep, not to mention their Multi- Million dollar machines that had to be mothballed due to radiation problems!


They didn't mothball them so much as move them around. First to some relatively tiny Midwestern airports that welcomed the machines with open arms and then on to courthouses and prisons. To the best of my knowledge the x-ray based scanners are no longer deployed at commercial airports in the US.

Here is some background information on the efficacy of America's nude-o-scopes: http://www.dailydot.com/politics/tsa-rapiscan-body-scanner-study/


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## jis (Sep 10, 2015)

I seem to recall that the owners, or one of the owners of Rapiscan happened to be a good friend of the then DHS Secretary too. Am I remembering wrong? Ah yes, it is mentioned in the last paragraph of the article. Chertoff of the the Katrina screwup fame was just arranging to enrich his clients by a few hundred million dollars is what was going on. Another Keystone Kop when it comes to security?


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## Ryan (Sep 10, 2015)

Yep. He also stood up some consulting firm that did some work with the DoD that I interacted with to further cash in on his name. Good work if you can get it!


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