More security theater

[unixronin]

Via Bruce Schneier:

Since 2007, the U.S. State Department has been issuing high-tech "e-passports," which contain computer chips carrying biometric data to prevent forgery.  Unfortunately, according to a March report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), getting one of these supersecure passports under false pretenses isn't particularly difficult for anyone with even basic forgery skills.

A GAO investigator managed to obtain four genuine U.S. passports using fake names and fraudulent documents.  In one case, he used the Social Security number of a man who had died in 1965.  In another, he used the Social Security number of a fictitious 5-year-old child created for a previous investigation, along with an ID showing that he was 53 years old.  The investigator then used one of the fake passports to buy a plane ticket, obtain a boarding pass, and make it through a security checkpoint at a major U.S. airport.  (When presented with the results of the GAO investigation, the State Department agreed that there was a "major vulnerability" in the passport issuance process and agreed to study the matter.)

Comments

[ithildae]

This is a surprise to who?

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I could, with a spare two hours, forge much more convincing birth-certificates than Wife and I used to obtain our e-passports . . .

[lizzibabe.livejournal.com]

And the Chinese already have someone who underwent surgery to commit fingerprint fraud. All this biometric data is going to do is increase the likelihood of amputation and maiming during a simple mugging.