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$1B of Nude Body Scanners Made Worthless — How Anyone Can Get Anything Past TSA NoS

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$1B of Nude Body Scanners Made Worthless — How Anyone Can Get Anything Past TSA NoS

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Old Mar 7, 2012, 1:31 pm
  #31  
 
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Originally Posted by RatherBeOnATrain
We need an acronym to label people who think that way, just as we label DYKWIAs.

The best I can come up with is ATE-POTS, which would stand for:

Aiding The Enemy by Pointing Out TSA's Stupidity

Anyone have a better acronym?
This line of thought is known as "Security Through Obscurity".

STOPper: Security Through Obscurity Proponent

"I was at the gate waiting for my flight, reading an article on my tablet about NoSes being ineffective. A nosy soccer-mom STOPper in the next seat over saw the headline and started loudly lecturing me about how the person who wrote that article should be ashamed of himself for showing terrorists how to fool the NoS."

I've proposed a few other acronyms and short terms for some people and events:

DWIM: Delay With Intent to Miss. Retaliatory secondary screening to make you miss your flight. Countermeasure: always arrive 2:00 early.

Pro-TSAer: Someone who will sing praise of the TSA no matter what. They insist that the Shoe Carnival is going to be eliminated, the TSA would never lie, and they'd rather be felt up than blown up. They also insist that NoSes are coming to cruise terminals. They're also excited and willing to go through the NoS.

Don't-Carer: Someone who thinks the TSA is the "cost" of living in the "greatest country" on earth, and thinks you should just get over it. These people refuse to actually express their opinions of the TSA; they only confirm it as a fact of life like death and taxes.
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 2:33 pm
  #32  
 
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Originally Posted by Mad_Max_Esq
http://blog.tsa.gov/2012/03/viral-vi...-scanners.html

While he derides the video as a "crude attempt," he doesn't deny that this is a gaping hole in the capabilities. More non-answers from our favorite blogger.
Crude, but effective. I figured he would come out and deny that these breaches occurred. How embarrasing to have a sophisticated machine beat by someone sewing a pocket onto his shirt.
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 2:53 pm
  #33  
 
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Originally Posted by spd476
Crude, but effective. I figured he would come out and deny that these breaches occurred. How embarrasing to have a sophisticated machine beat by someone sewing a pocket onto his shirt.
You mean the same way the 9/11 attackers beat the system with crude, unsophisticated attacks?
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 5:49 pm
  #34  
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also http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/201...canners-part3/
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 6:22 pm
  #35  
 
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The government responded angrily...

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/201...scanner-video/

The government responded angrily Wednesday to a YouTube video allegedly showing a 27-year-old Florida man sneaking a metallic object through two different body scanner devices at American airports.

Slightly OT but I'll make the point nonetheless. In the health care debate, it seems that dealing with a gov't bureaucracy is somehow better than dealing with a private insurance bureaucracy. Our gov't is inept and incapable. At some point every organization, company, school, whatever, gets to be a certain size that it renders itself bloated and incapable of making smart decisions.
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 7:00 pm
  #36  
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Originally Posted by Mad_Max_Esq
http://blog.tsa.gov/2012/03/viral-vi...-scanners.html

While he derides the video as a "crude attempt," he doesn't deny that this is a gaping hole in the capabilities. More non-answers from our favorite blogger.
The comment are an interesting read on the blog. Including this one

Why don't you release the security footage of me going through your MMW scanners so that all can see? CLE airport, USAir gates, 3/4, 2:57 PM.

Your layer is broken, Bob, as is your agency.

Jonathan Corbett

March 7, 2012 4:34 PM
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 7:46 pm
  #37  
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For the better part of the last three years, I have taken great delight at distributing within my friends and colleagues in the federal government those best posts I see on FT that point out TSA's stupidity, ineffectiveness, or just plain lunacy.

At first, I'd get many strident responses defending TSA, while admitting that yes, they could do better. After about a year of defending TSA, they'd respond with humor, no longer defending that miserable waste of our tax dollars.

I'll enjoy passing this one around tomorrow.
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 8:11 pm
  #38  
 
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Originally Posted by cordelli
The comment are an interesting read on the blog. Including this one

Why don't you release the security footage of me going through your MMW scanners so that all can see? CLE airport, USAir gates, 3/4, 2:57 PM.

Your layer is broken, Bob, as is your agency.

Jonathan Corbett

March 7, 2012 4:34 PM
It's taking them awhile to come up with a good lie for this one. Good Job Jon....
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 8:39 pm
  #39  
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Originally Posted by RatherBeOnATrain
We need an acronym to label people who think that way, just as we label DYKWIAs.

The best I can come up with is ATE-POTS, which would stand for:

Aiding The Enemy by Pointing Out TSA's Stupidity

Anyone have a better acronym?
DuDoCS

Dumbed-Down Constituational nonScholar



or



DuDASH

Dumbed-Down Anything for Security Human

Last edited by KDS; Mar 10, 2012 at 7:07 am
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 8:54 pm
  #40  
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Originally Posted by RedSnapper
Indeed the fact that a body scanner can be beaten has been known at least since the publication of Leon Kaufman & Joseph W. Carlson: An evaluation of airport x-ray backscatter units based on image characteristics, J. Transp. Secur. (2011) 4:73–94.

From the article: "It is also easy to see that an object such as a wire or a boxcutter blade, taped to the side of the body, or even a small gun in the same location, will be invisible."

This current YouTube post, however, does well to get the issue back into the news.
Yeah, this is much more dramatic.
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Old Mar 8, 2012, 5:00 am
  #41  
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Thumbs up New Times Broward: TSA Response to Viral Body Scanner Video *Not* Actually a Response

The New Times Broward-Palm Beach has posted a Rich Abdill item about this:

New Times Broward-Palm Beach:
TSA Response to Viral Body Scanner Video Not Actually a Response

Thu., Mar. 8 2012 at 6:04 AM
Categories: Bad Ideas


Regarding two TSA statements, the author writes:
Both [TSA] statements avoid the main question, which is whether a gap this embarrassingly obvious was really uncovered by a man who likes making a scene at airports because he doesn't want anyone to touch his balls.
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Old Mar 8, 2012, 5:10 am
  #42  
 
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The video helps explain the TSA's War on Skirts. A skirt arguably provides a better place to hide things from the NoS than other articles of clothing.
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Old Mar 8, 2012, 5:41 am
  #43  
 
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How does the NoS deal with leather pants? If the energy does not penetrate human skin, shouldn't it likewise be stopped by cow skin?
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Old Mar 8, 2012, 7:03 am
  #44  
 
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Originally Posted by Mad_Max_Esq
How does the NoS deal with leather pants? If the energy does not penetrate human skin, shouldn't it likewise be stopped by cow skin?
As far as I undertstand it, the energy is stopped by moisture, which is a property that human skin has but no clothing does. This also explains why sweat has been an issue.
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Old Mar 8, 2012, 7:34 am
  #45  
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Originally Posted by RichardKenner
As far as I undertstand it, the energy is stopped by moisture, which is a property that human skin has but no clothing does. This also explains why sweat has been an issue.
I wonder how leather-softening oil would work as a moisture substitute -- like glove oil used on baseball gloves?
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