Boarding Pass Hacker Gets Visit From FBI

[struggle4progress]

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=sci_tech&id=4705378

... Christopher Soghoian, a 24-year-old Ph.D. student at Indiana University's School of Informatics, published an interactive page on his Web site that produced a bogus boarding pass that could be used to gain access to an airport's boarding gate. The pass would not actually permit someone to board a plane. Soghoian said the fake pass would "allow you to sneak under the radar of the no-fly list, and while it is more complex, it will allow you to go through the TSA checkpoint without raising any red flags." ...

"I had a conversion with the FBI tonight," Soghoian told me. "We agreed that the issue of boarding passes is important, but that my particular approach could be improved upon."

Wendy Osborne, a special agent with the FBI's Indianapolis field office, declined to discuss the matter, but said Soghoian was not arrested. "We do take precautions when there are potential security problems in light of everything that's going on these days." ...

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2006/10/boarding_pass_hacker_gets_visi_1.html

[uppityperson]

1. from a friend earlier today comes this bit taken from his blog before erased...

UPDATE, 8:40pm PT, The “Slight Paranoia” blog credited to Chris Soghoian now contains two posts which reference an FBI visit:

3:54pm PT
FBI at the Door
The FBI are at the door. Off to chat.

7:12PM
Post FBI Visit
The FBI visited. They handed me with a written order to remove the boarding pass generator. By the time we were somewhere with internet access, the website had already been taken down. I am now safe (and no longer with the FBI). Still trying to find a lawyer….. “