The Guardian has a very interesting article about boarding passes for flights. Steve Boggan picked another passengers discarded boarding pass from the trash and put into his pocket. Why? He recalled a conversation he had had with a computer securty type earlier. I would imagine that this article on hotel key cards had something to do with it. Of the stub he wrote,
It said Broer had flown from Brussels to London on March 15 at 7.10am on BA flight 389 in seat 03C. It also told me he was a “Gold” standard passenger and gave me his frequent-flyer number. I picked up the stub, mindful of a conversation I had had with a computer security expert two months earlier, and put it in my pocket.
If the expert was right, this stub would enable me to access Broer’s personal information, including his passport number, date of birth and nationality. It would provide the building blocks for stealing his identity, ruining his future travel plans – and even allow me to fake his passport.
A very interesting read. Short answer: Be sure to shred your boarding passes when you’re done with your travels.
[tags]Privacy, Identity Theft, Airport Security[/tags]