TSA Approved Lock Master Keys Compromised
Sep 10, 2015, 8:08 am
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: DFW
Posts: 28,110
TSA Approved Lock Master Keys Compromised
https://twitter.com/Lukewearechange/...493184/photo/1
It seems TSA allowed a picture of its full set of Master Keys for TSA Approved Locks to be taken by media which was published and now information from that image has allowed an enterprising person to create a way to print keys on a 3D printer.
Might as well toss your TSA approved locks.
Thanks TSA for keeping the public less safe!
http://www.theguardian.com/technolog...uggage-at-risk
It seems TSA allowed a picture of its full set of Master Keys for TSA Approved Locks to be taken by media which was published and now information from that image has allowed an enterprising person to create a way to print keys on a 3D printer.
Might as well toss your TSA approved locks.
Thanks TSA for keeping the public less safe!
http://www.theguardian.com/technolog...uggage-at-risk
The master keys for those locks are kept under close guard – but a photograph of seven of them accompanied a Washington Post article about the TSA published in November 2014.
Anyone with a 3D printer can now unlock every single TSA-approved padlock, thanks to a security lapse by the American government agency.
Sep 10, 2015, 8:10 am
#2
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,409
I'm surprised it took so long for something like this to happen.
Sep 10, 2015, 9:30 am
#3
Join Date: May 2011
Location: San Antonio, TX
Programs: AA EXP, DL Silver, Global Entry
Posts: 1,863
Anybody who thinks TSA locks are going to keep the dedicated thief out of their luggage is a bit misguided. I use them but more to keep zippers from getting caught up in equipment and opened. I've seen more than one situation where some poor soul's garments have come out on the luggage carousel one piece at a time like bread crumbs back to their open bag. Could use zip ties and accomplish the same thing but I've built up quite a collection of TSA locks over the years so it's just more convenient.
Sep 10, 2015, 9:48 am
#4
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: The lower of the two Carolinas
Programs: Former AA Gold, SkyMiles, Hilton HHonors, SPG Gold, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 387
Exactly. Ripping a zipper open isn't terribly hard. Slashing the bag is even easier if it's a softside. And if they really want the bag they'll take the whole thing anyway and won't bother to try and unlock it. That's always been the case. If a thief wants something, they will find a way to take it.
I use locks to more or less keep the bag from popping open or accidentally being ripped open, much as Randyk47 said.
I use locks to more or less keep the bag from popping open or accidentally being ripped open, much as Randyk47 said.
Sep 10, 2015, 10:40 am
#5
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
This should be another reminder that governmental backdoors to get around encryption/locks without owner-oversight should not be allowed.
Allowing a party to easily crack into something without making the crack more immediately obvious to the owner is a big part of the problem.
Allowing a party to easily crack into something without making the crack more immediately obvious to the owner is a big part of the problem.
Sep 10, 2015, 11:21 am
#6
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: YYZ/SFO
Programs: AS MVPG, HH Diamond, Bonvoy Plat
Posts: 271
Lockpickers 3-D Print TSA Master Luggage Keys From Leaked Photos
Via WIRED:
Example Video
EDIT: Just realized someone posted this in the 'Checkpoints and Border Policy Debate' forum recently -- please delete if possible!
A group of lock-picking and security enthusiasts drove that lesson home Wednesday by publishing a set of CAD files to Github that anyone can use to 3-D print a precisely measured set of the TSA’s master keys for its “approved” locks—the ones the agency can open with its own keys during airport inspections. Within hours, at least one 3-D printer owner had already downloaded the files, printed one of the master keys, and published a video proving that it opened his TSA-approved luggage lock.
EDIT: Just realized someone posted this in the 'Checkpoints and Border Policy Debate' forum recently -- please delete if possible!
Sep 10, 2015, 12:07 pm
#7
Join Date: Sep 2011
Programs: AA SPG Amex
Posts: 4,644
The main purpose of the lock, for me, is to keep the bag from opening by accident or to keep someone from stealthily slipping a hand into my carry-on while I'm sitting in the airport. A regular keyring will do the same.
The locks offer about as much actual security as the TSA itself, so it's rather fitting.
By the way, this is also why I'll never live in an apartment with key-operated direct elevator access: while my key may be difficult to obtain and duplicate, I have to believe that those universal fireman's keys are readily obtainable...
The locks offer about as much actual security as the TSA itself, so it's rather fitting.
By the way, this is also why I'll never live in an apartment with key-operated direct elevator access: while my key may be difficult to obtain and duplicate, I have to believe that those universal fireman's keys are readily obtainable...
Sep 10, 2015, 1:56 pm
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: An NPR mind living in a Fox News world
Posts: 14,165
There are only something like 6-7 different keys for all the "TSA-approved" locks. I counted 7 in the Twitter picture. All you have to do is hit enough CVSs and Walmarts to buy a TSA lockset for all 7 locks (the numbers are stamped on the locks) and you've got them all.
Sep 10, 2015, 2:42 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: DFW
Posts: 28,110
There are only something like 6-7 different keys for all the "TSA-approved" locks. I counted 7 in the Twitter picture. All you have to do is hit enough CVSs and Walmarts to buy a TSA lockset for all 7 locks (the numbers are stamped on the locks) and you've got them all.
Sep 10, 2015, 2:53 pm
#10
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: DC area and San Francisco
Programs: SWA A-List, OnePass, AA, U-MP, more
Posts: 170
The photograph might have made it slightly easier, but just disassembling a few locks allows figuring out the profile.
Once you have the profile, making keys requires only precision machine tools and basic knowledge of how to use them. Or, as is the point of the story, a 3D printer and the ability to follow directions.
I don't blame the Washington Post. Rather the absurdity that someone thought that a mechanical key profile could be kept secret
Once you have the profile, making keys requires only precision machine tools and basic knowledge of how to use them. Or, as is the point of the story, a 3D printer and the ability to follow directions.
I don't blame the Washington Post. Rather the absurdity that someone thought that a mechanical key profile could be kept secret
Sep 10, 2015, 3:25 pm
#12
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 48
Anyone can download the designs now and print them out
https://github.com/Xyl2k/TSA-Travel-Sentry-master-keys
https://github.com/Xyl2k/TSA-Travel-Sentry-master-keys
Sep 10, 2015, 3:49 pm
#13
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: PHL
Programs: AA - Plat, HHonors - Diamond, IHG - Plat, Marriott - Gold, National - Exec, Amtrak - Select, NEXUS
Posts: 1,075
So, we should expect the TSA to (ex post facto) declare the keys SSI and take action against the 'officer' that allowed them to be photographed?
Of course, anyone that was duped into thinking those locks did anything but keep honest people out of luggage could consider this a blessing - now it is clear to all but the most dullard that those locks are simply ballast.
Of course, anyone that was duped into thinking those locks did anything but keep honest people out of luggage could consider this a blessing - now it is clear to all but the most dullard that those locks are simply ballast.
Sep 11, 2015, 6:38 am
#14
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Somewhere between here and there...
Programs: WWF, Appalachian Mountain Club
Posts: 11,595
So, we should expect the TSA to (ex post facto) declare the keys SSI and take action against the 'officer' that allowed them to be photographed?
Of course, anyone that was duped into thinking those locks did anything but keep honest people out of luggage could consider this a blessing - now it is clear to all but the most dullard that those locks are simply ballast.
Of course, anyone that was duped into thinking those locks did anything but keep honest people out of luggage could consider this a blessing - now it is clear to all but the most dullard that those locks are simply ballast.
Until it had been cut off so many times that I don't use them anymore. Guess TSA doesn't have a 3D printer.
Sep 11, 2015, 11:57 am
#15
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 70
Leaked Photo Leads To 3-D Printed Copies Of TSA’s Master Keys
Title says it all.
Link from Consumerist
http://consumerist.com/2015/09/10/le...luggage-locks/
I personally have never put locks on my luggage. I never check anything I would miss (...too much) assumed locks would make the bag more attractive. Another myth(?) I have heard is that the screeners are the ones most likely to steal something anyway.
What's everyone's best practice for valuables that really must be checked? Do the "TSA Approved" locks really reduce the chances of theft (they always looked pretty easy to pick)?
Link from Consumerist
http://consumerist.com/2015/09/10/le...luggage-locks/
I personally have never put locks on my luggage. I never check anything I would miss (...too much) assumed locks would make the bag more attractive. Another myth(?) I have heard is that the screeners are the ones most likely to steal something anyway.
What's everyone's best practice for valuables that really must be checked? Do the "TSA Approved" locks really reduce the chances of theft (they always looked pretty easy to pick)?