Tony Abbott's passport number revealed after Instagram Post

[Franky]

It beggars belief that someone who was in charge of a country’s security apparatus was so naive or unaware of revealing such details in public?

It’s all very well for you to slag him with your vast knowledge of the inner workings of travelling by air. He is not in charge of our security services, there are a number of Ministers responsible for that. Please cut him some slack, he would have had numerous minders looking after these details and I doubt he
has the time to be a follower of AFF.

 

[TheRealTMA]

It’s all very well for you to slag him with your vast knowledge of the inner workings of travelling by air. He is not in charge of our security services, there are a number of Ministers responsible for that. Please cut him some slack, he would have had numerous minders looking after these details and I doubt he
has the time to be a follower of AFF.

With respect, I think the person in question has made many more flights and overseas trips than most of us here.

 

[Franky]

With respect, I think the person in question has made many more flights and overseas trips than most of us here.

With respect, you have totally missed my point...

 

[TheRealTMA]

With respect, you have totally missed my point...

No I don’t think so.

 

[Franky]

No I don’t thing so.

In my honest opinion, you have just proven my point. Just think about it, all politicians from the PM down have minders who look after their travel arrangements, none would have a clue about the security implications of a boarding pass or any other part of their travel details.

 

[TheRealTMA]

In my honest opinion, you have just proven my point. Just think about it, all politicians from the PM down have minders who look after their travel arrangements, none would have a clue about the security implications of a boarding pass or any other part of their travel details.

Well, we have to agree to disagree. It’s security confidentiality 101. Not revealing personal information is something all politicians and senior business figures learn at an early age. YMMV.

 

[DC3]

... Please cut him some slack ...

AFF cutting some slack for a pollie?

It’s never going to happen, is it?

 

[DC3]

... Not revealing personal information is something all politicians and senior business figures learn at an early age ....

Real-world problem.

 

[VPS]

Hmm. Not sure I agree on a few counts there.

Actually I meant that the other way around.

Mind you I'm not sure that many "intelligent" people would not know to share their BP as well because they don't realise the ramifications

 

[calmelb]

Like the others said, he did attempt to cover up some personal details (FF number for example). I think it’s more that the general population don’t realise that your data is stored under the barcode/ booking reference and that this data is not restricted to airline staff, etc.

I think most people I know (even security savvy people) would assume that the details linked to the PNR/ barcode are protected to airline staff only and that the only things you can view are on the manage my booking.

Still agree it should be common sense to not share anything identifiable on social media

 

[jakeseven7]

Or even in the barcode.....

 

[albatross710]

It is a good read. How about considering the the MYB pages are hosted by amedeus which would have also impacted 200 other airlines. have they all applied the required fixes?

It also shows a fairly serious lack of knowledge in the amedeus security infrastructure.

another consideration with air travel in the doldrums -airline IT expenditure is getting slashed, so lack of innovation and progress. meanwhile on the outside scammers are having a boom time and developing new methods.

going to be worse.

 

[33kft]

Honestly, regardless of what you might think of the subject of the story, Abbot's response to the guy who contacted him to advise of his mistake was impressive. It strikes me as the sort of response that someone very measured and thoughtful would give. It makes me wonder about all the other less measured stuff and where it comes from...

 

[jb747]

I spent most of my life around airlines, and I had no idea, until I joined AFF, of how much information is on a boarding pass, or how easy it is to access.

 

[tomlee1986]

I would never post those on social media - even I don't travel much - but I know posting such details is basically an invite to hackers stealing my personal details

 

[DC3]

... He is not in charge of our security services ...

May be a good thing at that. I wonder where the buck stops then. Not with the PM?

 

[tomlee1986]

I spent most of my life around airlines, and I had no idea, until I joined AFF, of how much information is on a boarding pass, or how easy it is to access.

Its always a risk, and even those people NOT in this forum love to post their boarding passes on Facebook... I am shocked at the numbers of boarding passes I have seen on Facebook over the years

 

[p--and--t]

Well, no handmaidens to protect him from doing such things these days.

Unless things have changed, all ex PMs used get hand maidens to look after them, offices, staff, allowances etc. (used to be gold airline for life pass - no longer)

 

[PineappleSkip]

I followed the instructions in the blog and checked one of my own bookings even though they’re all of course vouchers with no passport details attached. Anyway, in the name of science I duly checked a voucher and can confirm that QF have indeed secreted all the relevant information

Sorry.
The site is experiencing difficulties at present. We apologise for the delay and will endeavour to restore operations as soon as possible...

cheers skip

 

[DC3]

Unless things have changed, all ex PMs used get hand maidens to look after them, offices, staff, allowances etc. (used to be gold airline for life pass - no longer)

Ah. Those were the days.