FBI raids Ph.D. student's apartment, investigates Web site

The FBI and Transportation Security Administration are investigating an IU doctoral student who created a Web site that generated fake Northwest Airlines boarding passes. Informatics graduate student Chris Soghoian reported Friday on his blog that the FBI showed up at his home in Bloomington and demanded he take down the Web site. That same day, Massachusetts Congressman Edward Markey publicly called for his arrest because of the site.\nThe site has since been taken down.\nSoghoian, who is working on a Ph.D. in Informatics with a focus in computer security, said he created the Web site to call attention to a "security hole" in airport regulations, according to his blog at http://slightparanoia.blogspot.com/. However, he never printed or used a fake boarding pass, he wrote in the blog. Soghoian said in an e-mail to the Indiana Daily Student his lawyers are not allowing him to comment to the press at this time. \nMarkey, a Democrat, has since recanted his statement against Soghoian, saying in a different statement Soghoian "intended no harm but, rather, intended to provide a public service by warning that this long-standing loophole could be easily exploited." However, the FBI and TSA are still investigating the case, said FBI Special Agent Wendy Osborne of the bureau's Indianapolis branch. She said the FBI and TSA will present their findings to the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of Indiana, but she has no idea when the investigation might conclude.\n"We will not be rushed," she said. "We'll do a complete, thorough investigation and report our findings."\nSoghoian wrote on his blog the FBI came to his home Friday and handed him a written order to take down the Web site. The FBI agents returned and forcibly entered early Saturday morning after discovering Soghoian was not home. Soghoian wrote on his blog he was too afraid to sleep there and had left his house. He wrote he returned the next morning to find "the glass on the front door smashed. ... a rather ransacked home, a search warrant taped to (his) kitchen table, a total absence of computers and various other important things." Though the search warrant is supposed to be officially sealed, Soghoian has attached a copy of it to his blog.\nOsborne wouldn't confirm the time of either visit, only that the FBI had been in contact with Soghoian and that the two organizations were investigating him. \n"The FBI and TSA take potential breaches of security very seriously," she said. "We immediately begin investigation and contact."\nAfter the FBI visits, Soghoian had to search for legal help since the University was "very straightforward about the fact that they won't cover (his) legal bills or protect (him) themselves," he wrote.\nHe created a "legal defense fund" through PayPal -- an online billing agency -- so supporters could donate, and he also created the Facebook group "Keep Chris out of Jail" to raise awareness for his cause, he wrote. The group, as of press time, had more than 560 members from around the world.\nSome of his strongest supporters are on the IU campus. Three of his professors -- Steven Myers, Markus Jakobsson and L. Jean Camp, who is also his adviser -- have all voiced concern about the situation.\nMyers said he was shocked when he heard the FBI had contacted his student because he said the ease of duplicating a boarding pass makes it something anyone can do. \n"Basically, he did what anyone with a photocopier could've done, only fancier," he said, explaining that Soghoian probably scanned a real boarding pass to start the generator.\nSoghoian is not the first to expose the loophole. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., details the same problem on his official Web site.\nCamp also supported her student and said his goal was to help solve a national problem.\n"Chris is a student trying to improve security," she said. "He is not at all malicious, and I don't think he should be punished. Students are here to learn."\nJakobsson said he thinks this will help the government fix the security problem and potentially help the United States become more secure in the future.\n"Now people have to improve airport security," he said. "He's not a criminal, he's a good guy."\nThe 25-year-old has a long list of technical experience, which includes internships with computer giants Apple and IBM, according to his online resume. He's currently a part-time engineering intern with Google's Application Security Group, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., said Barry Schnitt, a Google spokesman.\nSchnitt said in an e-mail that Soghoian's site didn't relate to his work for the company, but he is employed as a part-time engineering intern.\nStill, Myers hopes Soghoian makes it out of the ongoing investigation with the federal government and a "review" the University is conducting without trouble.\n"I think it's very ridiculous," Myers said. "He has no malicious intent. He's not the type to cause problems"