An audit has found a “significant weakness” in the technology deployed by TSA to capture personal facial recognition data from travellers. The conclusion drawn has massive implications for protecting the privacy of millions of passengers as they proceed through major airport hubs, as the biometric technology should enhance “security screening to identify persons of interest and authenticate flight traveller information while protecting passenger privacy”.
The Inspector carried out covert, discreet checks at airport touchpoints to evaluate operations within the airport where facial recognition
and identification technology is now standard procedure and the results determine the passenger’s eligibility. Both modern technology and personnel should be on a spectrum of modern screening practices. Face recognition tools can reliably verify a passenger against their live photo and physical documents but officers should be present to respond to its results.
DHS has issued three findings and six recommendations after conducting the audit on all aspects of biometric data handling and privacy. TSA concurred with five recommendations and non-concurred with one; four recommendations are open and resolved, and two remain open and unresolved.
TSA employees and the Credential Authentication Technology 2 (CAT-2) model was found to delete passenger information in a timely manner, however without TSA’s knowledge, a significant weakness was identified concerning access and extraction of sensitive passenger data, which indicated a lack of clear policies.
