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When flying I often lock my suitcase with a zip (the plastic strip you buckle up on its own, works one way). I got red and green zips because they are less comm

When flying I often lock my suitcase with a zip (the plastic strip you buckle up on its own, works one way). I got red and green zips because they are less common. I do this to detect obvious attempts at opening the suitcase (to have a look what is inside, or to plant nuclear weapons for me to transport them). When the suitcase is on the reception belt, I inspect the zips and if they are broken (or missing) i immediately go to the police/customs agents for them to inspect my suitcase because I see it was tempered with. It happened twice that the zips were missing. There was no problem for the agents to inspect my luggage. Nothing was found or missing, the zips were probably broken during transport (or someone had a look inside but did not find anything interesting.

deleted 4y ago
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capableweb 4y ago
> with a zip (the plastic strip you buckle up on its own, works one way) Just in case you didn't know, unless you buy ones that are specifically hard to open (like if you instead use ones from a random hardware store), they are trivial to open without breaking it by lifting the flap inside the lock-mechanism with something thin and sharp, roll it back out and inserting it again once you've done your deed.
- BrandoElFollito 4y ago
  I used the ones that are specifically hard to open (you basically force a blade into a part and if you want to remove it it is destructive). It will not protect le against everything, and this is the reason i do not go for anything fancy. I just hope that the ones who would like to put something in would be deterred by the zips. Anything that breaks visibly (a seal for instance) would do, but this leaves traces on the suitcase.
- O__________O 4y ago
  Glue, most likely super glue (cyanoacrylate) would likely counter that vulnerability. There are also tamper evident zip ties.
CTDOCodebases 4y ago
This is a wise thing to do. I knew a guy who frequently travelled to the USA who one day got home and discovered something in his suitcase that neither he nor his partner had put in there. The question "did you pack your bag?" that customs officers ask is used to infer guilt. Once you answer yes to this question you are criminally liable for whatever is in the suitcase. In Australia a number of baggage handlers have been convicted of trafficking drugs. Unsuspecting tourists have also been convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 10+ years in prison A company makes security seals for this very purpose and markets them under the name "TamperTell". They have a serial number on them and a matching receipt tab that you remove before flight then check against on arrival.
- capableweb 4y ago
  > A company makes security seals for this very purpose and markets them under the name "TamperTell". They have a serial number on them and a matching receipt tab that you remove before flight then check against on arrival. I wouldn't put too much trust into the marketing of products like this. Time and time again they fail to protect against the most basic of "lockpicking", and unless I've seen multiple skilled people failing at unlocking the "TamperTell", I'd put it in the same bucket as the rest. > DEF CON 18 (2010) held the first ever "Tamper Evident" contest, where contestants were given a box sealed with a variety of tamper evident devices, many of which purport to be "tamper proof." All of these devices were defeated, even by those with little experience and a limited toolkit. Like the computer world, many of these devices are overmarketed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W07ZpEv9Sog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W07ZpEv9Sog
  - dosman33 4y ago
    Ha, nice. I was a silent participant of that contest that year. My buddies team was able to acquire a second tamper kit to practice on, I learned a lot about seals that weekend and I still apply that knowledge to this day. Any seal that uses an adhesive is often easily removed with acetone. Seals that use multiple materials like plastic and metal, well you can dissolve the metal component and replace it if you have multiple blanks of the seal. If the plastic part is the part that is serialized then bobs your uncle. I moved on to using security paper to make high security envelopes. There are a ton of different features you can combine to make a unique security paper. Then mechanically sealing it with security wire and a lead seal. If an evil maid needs inside they would need to duplicate the security paper's features. This place sells a sampler pack of high security papers for cheap: http://www.secureguardpapers.com/assortment-w.html http://www.secureguardpapers.com/assortment-w.html If you want to go off the rails and raise legal questions for the government though, do this. Go to the treasury and buy sheets of uncut US currency to make your envelopes out of - remember all bills are uniquely serialized. If you are a true high roller buy uncut $100 bills, they probably have extra security features. Assuming your theoretical evil maid is a US government employee, it raises an interesting question: are NSA/US government employees allowed to forge/duplicate US currency in the pursuit of protecting national security? If you want to see other interesting application of anti-tampering features, go check out your passport and all your visa stamps in it. The low hanging fruit is UV, but don't forget that there are two common bands of UV, shortwave is where it's at. Lots of fluorescing going on. But don't forget IR transparent inks there (or IRT). Also don't forget that fluorescence can happen in wavelengths outside the human visible spectrum. If you shine an IR laser pointer at stuff there are inks that can fluoresce from IR back into the visible spectrum. There's a ton of other things too, but your passport has a cornucopia of interesting tamper evident features. And don't get me started on microwires. If conspiracy folks had any idea about these their heads would explode. https://security-paper.tagit-eas.ch https://security-paper.tagit-eas.ch
chrisseaton 4y ago
> i immediately go to the police/customs agents for them to inspect my suitcase Given they didn’t see your suitcase before you sealed it… what can they inspect it for?
- jdbernard 4y ago
  Contraband. I assume OP's concern is with someone planting something illegal in his bag.
  - BrandoElFollito 4y ago
    yes, exactly

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

capableweb 4y ago

> with a zip (the plastic strip you buckle up on its own, works one way) Just in case you didn't know, unless you buy ones that are specifically hard to open (like if you instead use ones from a random hardware store), they are trivial to open without breaking it by lifting the flap inside the lock-mechanism with something thin and sharp, roll it back out and inserting it again once you've done your deed.

BrandoElFollito 4y ago
I used the ones that are specifically hard to open (you basically force a blade into a part and if you want to remove it it is destructive). It will not protect le against everything, and this is the reason i do not go for anything fancy. I just hope that the ones who would like to put something in would be deterred by the zips. Anything that breaks visibly (a seal for instance) would do, but this leaves traces on the suitcase.
O__________O 4y ago
Glue, most likely super glue (cyanoacrylate) would likely counter that vulnerability. There are also tamper evident zip ties.

CTDOCodebases 4y ago

This is a wise thing to do. I knew a guy who frequently travelled to the USA who one day got home and discovered something in his suitcase that neither he nor his partner had put in there. The question "did you pack your bag?" that customs officers ask is used to infer guilt. Once you answer yes to this question you are criminally liable for whatever is in the suitcase. In Australia a number of baggage handlers have been convicted of trafficking drugs. Unsuspecting tourists have also been convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 10+ years in prison A company makes security seals for this very purpose and markets them under the name "TamperTell". They have a serial number on them and a matching receipt tab that you remove before flight then check against on arrival.

capableweb 4y ago
> A company makes security seals for this very purpose and markets them under the name "TamperTell". They have a serial number on them and a matching receipt tab that you remove before flight then check against on arrival. I wouldn't put too much trust into the marketing of products like this. Time and time again they fail to protect against the most basic of "lockpicking", and unless I've seen multiple skilled people failing at unlocking the "TamperTell", I'd put it in the same bucket as the rest. > DEF CON 18 (2010) held the first ever "Tamper Evident" contest, where contestants were given a box sealed with a variety of tamper evident devices, many of which purport to be "tamper proof." All of these devices were defeated, even by those with little experience and a limited toolkit. Like the computer world, many of these devices are overmarketed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W07ZpEv9Sog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W07ZpEv9Sog
- dosman33 4y ago
  Ha, nice. I was a silent participant of that contest that year. My buddies team was able to acquire a second tamper kit to practice on, I learned a lot about seals that weekend and I still apply that knowledge to this day. Any seal that uses an adhesive is often easily removed with acetone. Seals that use multiple materials like plastic and metal, well you can dissolve the metal component and replace it if you have multiple blanks of the seal. If the plastic part is the part that is serialized then bobs your uncle. I moved on to using security paper to make high security envelopes. There are a ton of different features you can combine to make a unique security paper. Then mechanically sealing it with security wire and a lead seal. If an evil maid needs inside they would need to duplicate the security paper's features. This place sells a sampler pack of high security papers for cheap: http://www.secureguardpapers.com/assortment-w.html http://www.secureguardpapers.com/assortment-w.html If you want to go off the rails and raise legal questions for the government though, do this. Go to the treasury and buy sheets of uncut US currency to make your envelopes out of - remember all bills are uniquely serialized. If you are a true high roller buy uncut $100 bills, they probably have extra security features. Assuming your theoretical evil maid is a US government employee, it raises an interesting question: are NSA/US government employees allowed to forge/duplicate US currency in the pursuit of protecting national security? If you want to see other interesting application of anti-tampering features, go check out your passport and all your visa stamps in it. The low hanging fruit is UV, but don't forget that there are two common bands of UV, shortwave is where it's at. Lots of fluorescing going on. But don't forget IR transparent inks there (or IRT). Also don't forget that fluorescence can happen in wavelengths outside the human visible spectrum. If you shine an IR laser pointer at stuff there are inks that can fluoresce from IR back into the visible spectrum. There's a ton of other things too, but your passport has a cornucopia of interesting tamper evident features. And don't get me started on microwires. If conspiracy folks had any idea about these their heads would explode. https://security-paper.tagit-eas.ch https://security-paper.tagit-eas.ch

chrisseaton 4y ago

> i immediately go to the police/customs agents for them to inspect my suitcase Given they didn’t see your suitcase before you sealed it… what can they inspect it for?

jdbernard 4y ago
Contraband. I assume OP's concern is with someone planting something illegal in his bag.
- BrandoElFollito 4y ago
  yes, exactly