Experts express concern about REAL-ID security

Just days after transsexuals initiatied their protest over the REAL ID Act, technology experts took to Capital Hill to express their concerns about the security of the massive database required by the system. “Computer scientists don’t know how to keep a database of this magnitude secure,” security guru Bruce Schneier told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. “The fact that the REAL ID database is a ‘one stop shop’ for personal information exacerbates these risks.” The major concern, of course, is that the same flexibility that will permit a policeman in Maine to read a driver’s license issued in Alaska will also make it easy for hackers and other digital criminals to access critical records, including Social Security numbers and fingerprints. Exacerbating the problem, said the Smart Card Alliance is the two-dimensional barcode proposed for REAL-ID compliant cards “due to its inherent security drawbacks.” Instead, the alliance modestly suggested that DHS instead use smart card technology — an issue, readers are well aware, raises a host of privacy issues of its own.