The TSA offers screener-friendly locks that use one of the seven master keys that only the TSA can use. Back in 2014, The Washington Post inadvertently published a picture that showed all seven keys laid out on a desk. It didn’t take long for a group of security experts to copy the designs and release their 3D models online. The eighth and final TSA master key has now been deciphered and its 3D models are now also available online.
Travel Sentry is the company that manufactures the first seven keys while the eighth is made by Safe Skies. The hackers who deciphered this key didn’t have a photo of it so they came up with another method.
What they basically did was legally purchase as many Safe Skies locks as they possibly could. Took them apart and examined the internals to find the common denominator.
“It’s a great metaphor for how weak encryption mechanisms are broken — gather enough data, find the pattern, then just ‘math’ out a universal key (or set of keys),” they said at the 11th Hackers On Planet Earth (HOPE) Conference where they presented their work.
As a result of this latest development, 3D models of all eight TSA master keys are now available online and anyone with a 3D printer can easily print them. The TSA isn’t concerned about this posing a threat to aviation security. “These consumer products are ‘peace of mind’ devices, not part of TSA’s aviation security regime,” the agency said in a statement provided to The Intercept.
Filed in . Read more about 3D Printing and Social Hit. Source: 3dprintingindustry