Flight returns to D/FW after suspicious item found on board

derg

Apparently a "terse" writer
Staff member
Yes indeed, a nation of bedwetters...


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Flight returns to D/FW after suspicious item found on board
04:20 PM CST on Wednesday, January 14, 2004

Associated Press


GRAPEVINE, Texas – An American Airlines jet returned to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Wednesday after a suspicious item, later determined to be a computer security identification device, was found on board.

A flight attendant found the device under a cabin seat about 40 minutes after Flight 1474 had taken off for Charlotte, N.C., said Tim Wagner, a spokesman for Fort Worth-based American.

The pilot returned the plane to D/FW Airport and parked it in a remote area of the tarmac for inspection. The 59 passengers and five crew members on board the MD-80 aircraft were safely deplaned.

"Purely as a precaution, the pilot returned and a security agent identified the device," Wagner said.

Wagner said the small device, which displays passwords to help prevent computer fraud or tampering, probably belonged to a passenger.

No other flights were delayed during the mid-afternoon incident.

The passengers were to be put on other flights to Charlotte.
 
Kinda silly, but I guess I can understand it. My uncle had one of these things when he worked for AT&T. It's about one inch by two inches, plastic, with a digital readout that every two minutes or so displays a new set of random letters/numbers for computer access. Basically, security is increased because in addition to your own username and password, you have to have this password which changes every couple of minutes ... supposedly the chances of all three being compromised is pretty slim.

But if I were an FA and didn't know better, and saw an electronic device with flashing numbers on it, I might be a little bit suspicious.

FL270
 
My uncle had one (works for Ford) that had a new password every seven seconds, the idea being that someone can't look over your shoulder to get the password (esp. in public, like say, an airport). It was a pretty cool little gadget.
 
It was probably a RSA SecurID token. The key fob style is very popular. There is a serial number on the back and the tokens can be traced back to the company that purchased it. The tokens can also be dropped in the mail and will be returned to the company. Users lose them all the time.

RSA Security
 
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It was probably a RSA SecurID token.

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Yup. This one falls into the category of "technologically ignorant flight crew".
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[ QUOTE ]
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It was probably a RSA SecurID token.

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Yup. This one falls into the category of "technologically ignorant flight crew".
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Technologically ingornant flight crew? Cabin crew maybe, but I would suggest that the flight crew has better things to do than identify items in the back.
 
Vern...VERN!

Poke it wiff a stick.

C'mon now!

Where dat ten foot pole when I need it?

I don't know Hoss, don't mess wiffit.
 
The only reason I knew what it was is because my uncle showed me his once. Had I not seen that one, and I saw a plastic electronic device with random numbers on an airplane, I'd be concerned too.

FL270
 
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