I don’t know if most of you get Bruce Schneier’s Cryptogram, but it is a good source of security information. Schneier is a well-respected author, cryptologist, and security expert. He’s written a couple of the required-reading books for cryptography and security.

This month’s issue has some articles that might be of interest to you even if you have no interest in security. One article discusses the futility of airport ID checks, including a way to circumvent the checks in a nearly foolproof manner. The following article discusses holes in those $2 million CTX bomb scanning machines.

The first story is really of interest because it highlights a common problem with security policies: they often don’t solve the problem they are targeted at. They also sometimes solve a different problem that isn’t in your interest. In case you’re curious about the issue of flying anonymously, you can read about John Gilmore’s struggle to educate people about the issue. He even got tossed off a plane once for wearing a button that said “Suspected Terrorist.”