Okaz newspaper

GOVERNMENT departments and institutions rely on adopting modern technology to facilitate procedures and improve services and this is a legitimate right. But do you know some of these facilities create security loopholes that may threaten the safety of citizens and national security?

The most important among them are the electronic gates at our airports such as King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Fahd International Airport in Dammam and King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah. These gates are located in front of passengers before they reach the ​​inspection area. At first glance these gateways may enthrall you as they endorse the validity boarding pass of passengers without human intervention and provide them with access to the personal luggage checkpoint.

Because of electronic gates, the authorities have cancelled the system of checking the personal identity of passengers at domestic airports. Security officers used to check IDs of travelers before they were allowed to board their flights. Now the electronic gates have become the first and last line of defense but it lacks the system to ensure the identity of persons holding boarding passes before they enter the plane.

The electronic gates make sure the validity of boarding pass but do not check the passengers' ID to ensure whether the boarding pass belonged to its holder or someone else. Another security issue is that all airline companies allow passengers to fill online forms to purchase tickets without verifying the credibility of information they have entered. Some weak-minded airline staff can also misuse this loophole and issue tickets to wanted criminals and violators of the law.

The lack of credibility and reliability of information about passengers and cancellation of the system to check the ID of passengers have created major security flaws. Criminals are likely to use this loophole for impersonation and travel by plane without being checked by security officers.

For example, anyone can buy a ticket using his ID card and give to another person, who may be a violator of the law or a wanted criminal and this is one of the methods followed by terror cells to facilitate movement of their members and shelter wanted persons. Electronic gateway system allows these criminals to board planes without their IDs getting checked.

The electronic gate is the area that separates between the public place and travelers’ zone at airports. Travelers’ IDs will not be checked before they board domestic flights. This security lapse is unacceptable because it would undermine national security and represents a major security fault.

This security gap indicates the absence of a government or a semi-government agency to assess the danger posed by the use of modern technology in sensitive places like airports. I believe that either the Interior Ministry or the National Security Agency should play that role urgently.

In order to ensure passenger safety and the Kingdom’s global reputation it’s essential to make electronic gateways secure to prevent the weak-minded from exploiting its loopholes. Security officers should check the identity of travelers before they board domestic flights and this can be done by using fingerprinting, foot printing and biometrics of passengers.

These measures will help prevent impersonation. Authorities should verify information uploaded by passengers on airline websites to purchase tickets. We should know that the electronic gateways are the first and last line of defense and security officers should check IDs of passengers to prevent manipulation and ensure security of airports.

We should use modern technology in an effective way and evaluate its performance scientifically to prevent it from causing new security problems.