Information Security at Airports

Nowadays both airports and airlines are having serious problems relating to Baggage Reconciliation. Many transfer baggage are directed to a false destination or are simply getting lost during the flight procedure. Some of these, however, get taken away by another passenger by mistake (due to similarities in baggage) or intentionally stolen. Irrespectively of whether the loss can be attributed to a human or a computer error, it is causing enormous losses for both the airlines and the airports. To avoid these problems a new technology must be introduced at airports. This technology is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) that minimizes the false identification of the baggage. The RFID is a widely applicable method for storing data and tracing products in the logistics industry. Due to security reasons like the fight against terrorism, the passengers' correct identification and tracking within the terminal, it is an issue of tremendous importance for the air transportation industry. With the RFID technology we can hit two birds with one stone. It is applicable for both baggage and passenger tracking. Indefinite amount of data can be stored with the RFID tag. The new trend for the identification of the passenger is the biometric method. However, it only serves to identify a person not to monitor the passenger flow within the terminal. The tracking of checked-in passengers within the terminal using RFID tags after entering the transit hall is on one hand facilitating the airport flow but on the other hand causing a big issue related to data security. To ensure the passenger's privacy rights the passenger should only be tracked from his entering into the transit hall and a one-way code will be used. To improve the airport's flow efficiency and to reduce the costs, RFID technology should be applied. The barcode-scanner, that is currently used as tracking technology is not reliable enough and can cause congestion. If many airlines adopt this new technology a common databank could be set up and legal provision can be adopted for the information security. Today's standards, which were written for barcode-scanner technology, have to be changed.