Boarding passes linked to a wealth of information about flyers

Krebs from Krebs on security, asks you to consider“the next time you’re thinking of throwing away a used boarding pass with a barcode on it, consider tossing the boarding pass into a document shredder instead. Two-dimensional barcodes and QR codes can hold a great deal of information, and the codes printed on airline boarding passes may allow someone to discover more about you, your future travel plans, and your frequent flyer account.”

There are sites online such as, Online Barcode Reader that can interpret data on your boarding pass. Sites like this one can interpret all sorts of data, from your name and telephone number, to your frequent flyer number and schedule of flights.

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Ravenscraft mentions that while ‘of course, every airline has a different method for storing information on their boarding passes. Even without encoded information, the data that’s plainly visible on your boarding pass should make it worth shredding.’

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Do you throw away your boarding pass or shred it? Perhaps it’s worth reconsidering how you dispose of your boarding pass.

***Sources***
Brian Krebs, Krebs Security
Eric Ravenscraft Lifehacker.com