FBI raids creator of fake boarding pass generator

November 5, 2006

Christopher Soghoian, 24, a doctoral student in information security at, released a boarding pass generator for on October 25th. In the release, he stated that it demonstrates flaws in airport security and the no-fly list.

A few days later, on October 27th, Soghoian was visited by the who told him to take down the site. Soghoian complied with the FBI request. However, the FBI then raided his apartment that evening; apparently due to lack of a warrant during the first visit.

Representative (D-Mass.) had called for Soghoian to be arrested in October.

Fake boarding passes are quite easy to create in ; assuming you have access to a old boarding pass for comparison. Indeed, has created a similarly passable fake boarding pass for their AirTorture fundraising site.

In February 2005, Senator noticed this loophole in no-fly list. He urged the to "check every passenger's ID against the passenger's face and his boarding pass and ticket", as has been done immediately after the. TSA declined to follow the senator's recommendation.

Mirrors of the fake boarding pass generator are available online.

Blogs

 * (search warrant mirror)
 * (search warrant mirror)
 * (search warrant mirror)