Laptop with Trusted Traveler Identities Stolen

Oops. A laptop with the names of 33,000 people enrolled in the Clear program — the most popular airport “trusted traveler” program — has been stolen at SFO. The TSA is unhappy.

Stealing databases of personal information is never good, but this doesn’t make a bit of difference to airport security. I’ve already written about the Clear program: it’s a $100-a-year program that lets you cut the security line, and nothing more. Clear members are no more trusted than anyone else.

Anyway, it’s easy to fly without an ID, as long as you claim to have lost it. And it’s also easy to get through airport security without being an actual airplane passenger.

None of this is security. Absolutely none of it.

EDITED TO ADD (8/7): The laptop has been found. Turns out it was never stolen:

The laptop was found Tuesday morning in the same company office where it supposedly had gone missing, said spokeswoman Allison Beer. “It was not in an obvious location,” said Beer, who said an investigation was under way to determine whether the computer was actually stolen or had just been misplaced.

Why in the world do these people not use full-disk encryption?

Posted on August 5, 2008 at 12:09 PM • 65 Comments