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Like many, Sam Curry and I spend a lot of time waiting in airport security lines. If you do this enough, you might sometimes see a special lane at airport security called Known Crewmember (KCM). KCM is a TSA program that allows pilots and flight attendants to bypass security screening, even when flying on domestic personal trips.
The KCM process is fairly simple: the employee uses the dedicated lane and presents their KCM barcode or provides the TSA agent their employee number and airline. Various forms of ID need to be presented while the TSA agent's laptop verifies the employment status with the airline. If successful, the employee can access the sterile area without any screening at all.
A similar system also exists for cockpit access, called the Cockpit Access Security System (CASS). Most aircraft have at least one jumpseat inside the cockpit sitting behind the flying pilots. When pilots need to commute or travel, it is not always possible for them to occupy a revenue seat, so a jumpseat can be used instead. CASS allows the gate agent of a flight to verify that the jumpseater is an authorized pilot. The gate agent can then inform the crew of the flight that the jumpseater was authenticated by CASS.
The employment status check is the most critical component of these processes. If the individual doesn't currently work for an airline, they have not had a background check and should not be permitted to bypass security screening or access the cockpit. This process is also responsible for returning the photo of the crewmember to ensure the right person is being authorized for access. So how does this work, when every airline presumably uses a different system to store their employee information? That is what we were wondering, and where it gets interesting...
(Score: 4, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 30, @12:55PM (4 children)
All these "relying on the database" systems still have that component of wetware facial recognition included.
Sure, if the computer says you're an employee, most TSA screeners will let you by, but... there's still that chance that you "just don't look like any employee I know" and will get pulled aside for additional verification. And when you fail that level of scrutiny _because_ you tricked the almighty all knowing computer system? Yeah, you aren't making your flight. You aren't making any flight for several years.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 5, Funny) by Ingar on Friday August 30, @01:03PM
Hi Bobby Tables
FTFY
Understanding is a three-edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tekk on Friday August 30, @06:33PM (2 children)
This isn't a normal workplace though. The system is in place for, for example, a pilot who flew in from Latvia last night, crashed in a hotel, and is checking in to get a jump seat back today. The TSA employee has never seen this pilot and will never see them again.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 30, @07:09PM
Sure, con man, walk on through cool as a cucumber and they'll never know...
Iff you've got that "air crew" vibe down pat, and the TSA isn't feeling frisky, you'll sail on through.
I'm not trying to imply that TSA are super-cops or anything, all the stories of all the crap that has gotten past them proves that wrong, but they are hard-asses looking for an excuse to mess up someone's day / year, so... when you trigger that system it's good to have backup documentation that they'll accept - without filing a report.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday August 31, @03:51AM
"Computer says yes!".
(Score: 3, Insightful) by PiMuNu on Friday August 30, @01:15PM (2 children)
My opinion is that most of the suicide bombers are vulnerable people being exploited by Bad Guys for political aims. Any technique that requires intelligence is not really relevant, unless it can be automated so the target does not have to apply any intelligence.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Snospar on Friday August 30, @01:39PM (1 child)
The fortune at the end of the page seems apt here:
Huge thanks to all the Soylent volunteers without whom this community (and this post) would not be possible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 01, @03:20PM
cf. The Wages of Fear [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Friday August 30, @02:55PM (1 child)
The vulnerability was bad enough. But the way Homeland Security handled it was surprising. Maybe a tragedy of errors instead of comedy.
If a lazy person with no education can cross the border and take your job, we need to upgrade your job skills.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 31, @03:24AM
Unless he already had official permission to do all of those tests and the actual changes.