We all know that airports aren’t a place to play silly games when it comes to security.
Well, there’s a new thing to be aware of when going through security and on your plane – and that’s the name of your mobile phone hotspot.
For example, the following names could be considered mostly non-offensive.
Well – Kevin’s iPhone5 could be offensive to Android users – but that’s by the by.
However, there are some names that aren’t exactly clever. On Sunday, American Airlines flight AA136 which was due to operate a Los Angeles to London Heathrow was delayed when an unidentified person chose the name “Al-Quida Free Terror Nettwork” (spelling errors as given) for a mobile hotspot.
The flight was delayed for nearly a day.
Initially, the plane was parked at a remote spot on the field for a “maintenance issue”, before being returned to the gate. The flight was delayed, and departed the following day whilst investigations were carried out for threats
It is rather dumb though. ABC7 has the scoop, whilst IT security expert Graham Cluley states the following important comment
One thing is clear. If a real terrorist wanted to disrupt an air flight they don’t have to go to the effort of sneaking in explosives or phoning in a bomb threat. They can just create a Wi-Fi hotspot with a suspicious-looking name.
Because a real terrorist would use such a hotspot name, right? Sigh…
security in Airports is a twitchy – we all know this as we go through checkpoints “for our safety and security”.
But doing dumb things like this… is just asking for trouble. Especially in airport where staff are attune to any threat, and have to take them as such…
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