cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/47299437
United flight 236 from Newark to Palma de Mallorca on Saturday night was forced to turn around just an hour after takeoff due to security concerns around a Bluetooth signal. Multiple Redditors claimed to be on the flight and reported that the crew repeatedly requested passengers to turn off their Bluetooth. According to one poster, […]
I don’t know, I think airlines should have a responsibility to address potential bomb threats on their commercial flights but that might just be me…
Yes, terrorists are absolutely going around naming their WiFi and Bluetooth devices ‘bomb’.
I think a simple rule of “Better safe than sorry” applies here. It is as if a robber comes with a plastic gun that looks like a real one. Nobody wants to figure out if it is real or not.
Best case, inconvenience. Worst case, death. Being stuck in a metal tube kilometres above the earth I’m going to lean towards caution.
This resembled the actual thing less than finger guns resemble the real ones.
I know that in modern times most toy guns look nothing like a real weapon (colorful, looking weird, and so on), but you can still find some guns like this one:
Finger guns
Not saying that’s logical, but it’s something the airlines have to act on. They have policies in place that they need to follow, and even if it’s a finer comb than it needs to be it’s better than having no policy at all.
People forget how many skyjackings there were in the 80s and 90s when they say airport security is worthless. Like “How many incidents have they prevented?” “Only all the ones that didn’t happen…”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_theater
So is your suggestion to do away with airline security?
Not entirely. But it’s undeniable that most security measures are rooted in nothing more than a desire for a bigger budget.