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#1
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Laptop checking in airports
I've seen people who try to take their laptops onto a plane as carry-on get
stopped by security at the gate. The security guard asks them to boot up the laptop, and then they insert some sort of device into the laptop (presumably into the USB port or something). What exactly does this device do, and is there a possibility of a virus being transmitted from the device into the computer? |
#2
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Laptop checking in airports
curious wrote in message
... I've seen people who try to take their laptops onto a plane as carry-on get stopped by security at the gate. The security guard asks them to boot up the laptop, and then they insert some sort of device into the laptop (presumably into the USB port or something). What exactly does this device do, and is there a possibility of a virus being transmitted from the device into the computer? No virus, since it is not allowed to bring them into some countries. So probably they kill them all before take-off. Ron |
#3
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Laptop checking in airports
curious wrote in message
... I've seen people who try to take their laptops onto a plane as carry-on get stopped by security at the gate. The security guard asks them to boot up the laptop, and then they insert some sort of device into the laptop (presumably into the USB port or something). What exactly does this device do, and is there a possibility of a virus being transmitted from the device into the computer? No virus, since it is not allowed to bring them into some countries. So probably they kill them all before take-off. Ron |
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Laptop checking in airports
curious wrote in message ... I've seen people who try to take their laptops onto a plane as carry-on get stopped by security at the gate. The security guard asks them to boot up the laptop, and then they insert some sort of device into the laptop (presumably into the USB port or something). What exactly does this device do, and is there a possibility of a virus being transmitted from the device into the computer? I've never had anything put into my laptop and most of the time these days all they do is x-ray them separately. Keith |
#5
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Laptop checking in airports
curious wrote in message ... I've seen people who try to take their laptops onto a plane as carry-on get stopped by security at the gate. The security guard asks them to boot up the laptop, and then they insert some sort of device into the laptop (presumably into the USB port or something). What exactly does this device do, and is there a possibility of a virus being transmitted from the device into the computer? I've never had anything put into my laptop and most of the time these days all they do is x-ray them separately. Keith |
#6
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Laptop checking in airports
curious wrote in message ... I've seen people who try to take their laptops onto a plane as carry-on get stopped by security at the gate. The security guard asks them to boot up the laptop, and then they insert some sort of device into the laptop (presumably into the USB port or something). What exactly does this device do, and is there a possibility of a virus being transmitted from the device into the computer? I've never had anything put into my laptop and most of the time these days all they do is x-ray them separately. Keith |
#7
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Laptop checking in airports
In article , curious wrote:
I've seen people who try to take their laptops onto a plane as carry-on get stopped by security at the gate. The security guard asks them to boot up the laptop, and then they insert some sort of device into the laptop (presumably into the USB port or something). What exactly does this device do, and is there a possibility of a virus being transmitted from the device into the computer? I have traveled by air with my laptop many times in the United States and I never had anyone at a United States airport touch my laptop in any way. The only issue I ever had was one day when I was tired beyond description and I completely forgot to put my laptop in one of those bins at the carry-on inspection gate. The inspector simply asked me to boot up the computer and he didn't even wait for the boot sequence to complete before he told me to move on. |
#8
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Laptop checking in airports
In article , curious wrote:
I've seen people who try to take their laptops onto a plane as carry-on get stopped by security at the gate. The security guard asks them to boot up the laptop, and then they insert some sort of device into the laptop (presumably into the USB port or something). What exactly does this device do, and is there a possibility of a virus being transmitted from the device into the computer? I have traveled by air with my laptop many times in the United States and I never had anyone at a United States airport touch my laptop in any way. The only issue I ever had was one day when I was tired beyond description and I completely forgot to put my laptop in one of those bins at the carry-on inspection gate. The inspector simply asked me to boot up the computer and he didn't even wait for the boot sequence to complete before he told me to move on. |
#9
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Laptop checking in airports
In article , curious wrote:
I've seen people who try to take their laptops onto a plane as carry-on get stopped by security at the gate. The security guard asks them to boot up the laptop, and then they insert some sort of device into the laptop (presumably into the USB port or something). What exactly does this device do, and is there a possibility of a virus being transmitted from the device into the computer? I have traveled by air with my laptop many times in the United States and I never had anyone at a United States airport touch my laptop in any way. The only issue I ever had was one day when I was tired beyond description and I completely forgot to put my laptop in one of those bins at the carry-on inspection gate. The inspector simply asked me to boot up the computer and he didn't even wait for the boot sequence to complete before he told me to move on. |
#10
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Laptop checking in airports
"Shawn Hearn" wrote:
snip ... The only issue I ever had was one day when I was tired beyond description and I completely forgot to put my laptop in one of those bins at the carry-on inspection gate. The inspector simply asked me to boot up the computer and he didn't even wait for the boot sequence to complete before he told me to move on. The issue is really that you will comply. I guess the thought behind all this is that the most likely thing to fake out in a laptop to smuggle explosives, etc on board would be the battery (usually by far the largest single, non-obviously tampered with component that is readily accessible from "outside" the laptop's case (i.e. you don't have to sit there undoing case screws to get access to it -- somnething that is likely to draw some attention to the person doing it). Also, I _imagine_ that a laptop battery and a similarly-sized "replacement" block of C4 or similar probably look very much the same to the X-Ray machines... Thus, the fact that you comply with the request and see lights starting to blink is probably enough "evidence" that the machine poses no significant threat. -- Nick FitzGerald |
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