Verified Identity Pass: CLEAR Suspended Following Laptop Theft - UPDATE
Via ABC7.com.
Verified Identity Pass, which operates under the brand name Clear, was suspended by the Transportation Security Administration Monday after a laptop containing personal information for 33,000 people signing up for their registered traveler program was stolen from San Francisco International Airport.
The company is in the process of notifying the people, who were signing up for an expedited airport check-in service, that their personal information may have been stolen.
Officials said a laptop containing the data was stolen from a locked office at the airport. The information on the laptop was not encrypted. There was no credit card data or any social security numbers stored on the laptop, but there were names, addresses and other personal data.
Verified Identity Pass will not be able to enroll new customers into the registered traveler program until the TSA verifies that the company is compliant with security procedures.
More
here.
Hat-tip:
Pogo Was RightUPDATE: 13:03 PDT, 5 August 2008: Apparently,
Verified Identity Pass now says they have recovered the missing PC, but there some
rather disturbing questions remain.
-ferg
Missing SFO Clear Laptop Was Stolen, Not Misplaced
Via CBS5.com.
A laptop containing the personal information of 33,000 applicants to a program that allows air travelers to bypass airport security lines was likely stolen then returned, not just misplaced for more than a week, investigators said Monday.
The Transportation Security Administration announced a week ago that it had suspended new enrollments to the program, known as Clear, after the unencrypted computer went missing from a locked office at San Francisco International Airport.
The TSA also told officials at SFO and other airports that used Clear to cease use of any unencrypted computers and secure devices until encryption can be installed.
The day after TSA's announcement, the laptop reappeared in a locked cabinet in the same office where it was last seen.
Verified Identity Pass Inc., which runs the Clear program, said at the time the company did not know whether its computer was actually stolen or had just been overlooked.
Investigators are now treating the disappearance as a theft and are interviewing Verified Identity Pass employees to figure out who took the laptop and why, said San Mateo County Sheriff's Sgt. Wes Matsuura.
It was "highly doubtful" that a random member of the public swiped the computer and then returned it to the locked office, which is not in a visible location at the airport, Matsuura said.
More
here.
'Clear' Shuts Down Registered Traveler Lanes
Benet Wilson writes on the Aviation Week "Things With Wings" Blog:
Verified Identity Pass’s Clear registered traveler lanes, located at 20 airports, are shutting down at 11:00 p.m. Pacific time tonight.
The company web site was blank except for a white page with the official statement and no calls were returned. Clear said it was “unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations.”
Orlando International Airport spokeswoman Carolyn Fennell said they had not received notice until late this afternoon via email that Clear was ceasing operations. "We haven't had time to evaluate the impact or get further information," she said.
The pilot program was rolled out with great fanfare July 18, 2005, in Orlando. Travelers initially paid $99 a year for a card that was supposed to target those who posed a minimum security risk, and give them a special line that would process them through airport security more quickly.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was slow to release the program from the pilot phase, finally giving the green light to roll out the program in January 2007. The program hit a snag after TSA halted the use of GE SRT kiosks designed to serve as a shoe scanner and explosives detection system, blunting one of the program’s key benefits – allowing passengers to keep on shoes and jackets, and keep laptop computers in their bags.
More
here.
Hat-tip: techdirt.com
Retarded Quote of The Day: Steven Brill
"We don't believe the security or privacy of these would-be members will be compromised in any way."
- Steven Brill, CEO of Verified Identity Pass, who was quoted in a Bloomberg News article regard the theft of a laptop at the San Francisco International Airport containing the confidential information of 33,000 people on the U.S. Customs CLEAR program. Simply astounding.
