Communications of the ACM
Is Aviation Security Mostly For Show?
Credit: Ann De Wulf
Last week's attempted terror attack on an airplane heading from Amsterdam to Detroit has given rise to a bunch of familiar questions.
How did the explosives get past security screening? What steps could be taken to avert similar attacks? Why wasn't there an air marshal on the flight? And, predictably, government officials have rushed to institute new safety measures to close holes in the system exposed by the incident.
Reviewing what happened is important, but a lot of the discussion is off-base, a reflection of the fundamentally wrong conception most people have of terrorism and how to combat it.
Using the Christmas Day attempted airplane bombing as a point of departure, security expert Bruce Schneier discusses the rarity of terrorism and considers the difficulties involved in improving commercial aviation security.
From CNN
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