Consumerist and Wired report the design of the master skeleton keys used by the TSA to open and inspect your luggage has been leaked on the Web. Now anyone can use a 3-D printer to duplicate the keys and open luggage—and people are doing it.
The security blunder stems from a story in the Washington Post published nearly a year ago, which ran an image of the keys along with a story on luggage inspection. That photo enabled non-TSA employees to create computer files that duplicate the contours of the seven types of master key.
Those plans to duplicate all seven keys were posted on the content-sharing site Github. The Post didn't realize the photo had compromised security until August, when it finally pulled the image. Hobbyists have posted videos of their homemade keys opening luggage locks.
The TSA told Consumerist it's looking into the situation, but at this point, it looks like the deed has been done and a whole new set of TSA-approved locks and keys must be issued.
