Detecting unauthorized physical access with beans, lentils and colored rice (2021)

Re:Detecting unauthorized physical access with beans, lentil... by noodlesUK on Monday June 27, 2022 @08:51PM (#31902846)

If I were actually going to use a method like this in real life especially for international shipping etc, I’d probably avoid using rice or beans or other plant material to avoid unnecessary inspections at customs. I feel like this would definitely get stopped and inspected, where a block of multicoloured plastic or resin might not be.

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Re:Detecting unauthorized physical access with beans, lentil... by akehrer on Monday June 27, 2022 @09:58PM (#31903274)

Maybe use injection mold resin pellets instead. They’re not as convenient as rice or lentils, but there are a lot of color choices.

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Re:Detecting unauthorized physical access with beans, lentil... by albrewer on Tuesday June 28, 2022 @11:12AM (#31908768)

Rice and beans are considered hazardous cargo because, when exposed to moisture, they expand significantly and can rupture their packaging.

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Re:Detecting unauthorized physical access with beans, lentil... by jschulenklopper on Tuesday June 28, 2022 @06:04AM (#31905961)

I'd think that a block of resin would be equally suspicious, warranting an inspection immediately, but IANACBPO.

Otherwise, a block of (say) white icing sugar, encapsulated in a block of (opaque) resin, would pass a machine inspection and icing sugar-sniffing dogs at the border... and a lot of icing sugar would enter the country in a resin mold.

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Re:Detecting unauthorized physical access with beans, lentil... by PeterisP on Tuesday June 28, 2022 @08:39AM (#31906864)

A block of multicoloured plastic or resin with electronics in it (visible in the airpot xrays) IMHO is quite sure to raise all kinds of red flags.

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Re:Detecting unauthorized physical access with beans, lentil... by ezoe on Tuesday June 28, 2022 @06:07AM (#31905973)

I guess the point is detecting the inspection, not avoiding it.

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Re:Detecting unauthorized physical access with beans, lentil... by dredmorbius on Tuesday June 28, 2022 @07:08AM (#31906255)

There are customs regulations against importing foodstuffs in many areas. For international travel or shipping, this might prove problematic on those grounds.

Rice, for example, is not allowed or might require specific permission to import into Australia. Coffee, noodles, pasta, pepper, and wheat might be restricted.

https://www.abf.gov.au/entering-and-leaving-australia/can-yo...

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Re:Detecting unauthorized physical access with beans, lentil... by advisedwang on Tuesday June 28, 2022 @12:46PM (#31910044)

If you are just getting package disturbed 100% of the time by TSA, that makes it useless to detect whether or not somebody else also tampers with it.

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