FC: Reuters on TSA's password-protected files: Not a great idea...

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=1958544

   Encryption of Agency's Web Documents Probed
   Tue December 24, 2002 01:27 PM ET

   NEW YORK (Reuters) - Computer security followers are questioning the
   way the U.S. transportation security administration, which oversees
   airport security and other transportation issues, is protecting some
   restricted documents on its Web site.

   Four documents available on the "Security and Law Enforcement" section
   of the TSA Web site can be accessed and stored by any Internet user. A
   password in Microsoft Word keeps the document from curious eyes.

   But once on a user's hard drive, the documents -- intended for local
   law enforcement and airport management -- can then be probed by
   password-breaking software that can spend days or weeks trying
   combinations of passwords, without triggering a security alarm or
   locking the user out of the file.

   [...]

   A reporter for CNET News.com wrote on Monday that he was able to
   secure the password for the documents from a person he did not name.

   The Transportation Security Administration defended the protection of
   the documents.

   "We think it's safe," a spokesman said. "From our standpoint it's very
   workable and secure."




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