In January 2023, reports said that files containing 2019 versions of the US No Fly List had been found on an unsecured CommuteAir server and later posted to a hacking forum. That was a reported exposure of a copy of list data—not proof that the federal government’s live screening system was breached. The available contemporaneous accounts do not establish the final result of the TSA investigation.
What was reported in the 2023 exposure?
Contemporaneous coverage said files containing No Fly List data were stored on an unsecured Amazon Web Services server associated with CommuteAir, then appeared on a hacking forum. CommuteAir characterized the copy as outdated. The House Homeland Security Committee’s January 26, 2023 letter described what members understood from media reports; it was a request for answers, not a final government forensic finding. The committee letter and The Record’s contemporaneous account provide those qualifications.
The distinction matters: a file copy held by an airline on an unsecured server is not, by itself, evidence that attackers accessed or compromised the live federal system used for screening. The accounts describe a potential cybersecurity incident involving exposed data; they do not establish how it was accessed or what happened to every copy.
How many people were on the leaked No Fly List?
The often-repeated figure is a count of entries, not a verified count of unique people. The House committee letter said media reports described “as many as 1.5 million data entries.” A separate contemporary report put the forum-posted No Fly spreadsheet at 1,566,062 entries and noted duplicates and spelling variations. Neither figure establishes how many distinct individuals were represented. SecNews.gr’s report is the source for the spreadsheet figure and duplicate caveat.
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Accordingly, “over 1.5 million names” is an imprecise shorthand. The evidence cited in these accounts supports describing more than 1.5 million reported entries, while the number of unique people exposed remains unconfirmed.
What information was reportedly exposed?
News accounts described the files as including names, dates of birth and aliases. They identified the data as 2019 versions and also discussed a separate Selectee file. Those are reported file contents, not a published forensic inventory confirming every field in every exposed file. The available sources do not establish that additional personal information was included.
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Did TSA confirm the breach?
TSA was reported as saying it was aware of a potential cybersecurity incident and was investigating with federal partners. A TSA spokesperson told The Record: “TSA is aware of a potential cybersecurity incident, and we are investigating in coordination with our federal partners.” This was a statement quoted in contemporaneous reporting, not a TSA press release retrieved here. The sources do not establish the investigation’s final findings, whether all forum copies were removed, or whether a later, separate exposure occurred.
The committee’s letter asked TSA for information and said members were seeking “the necessary oversight to ensure the security of America’s transportation systems and the defense of civil rights and liberties.” That describes the committee’s stated purpose for its inquiry, not a conclusion about the incident.
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How the No Fly List fits into airline screening
The No Fly List is part of a broader watch-list screening framework. The federal Secure Flight rule distinguishes No Fly screening from Selectee screening; a Selectee designation triggers additional screening rather than the same prohibition on boarding. The Secure Flight final rule sets out that framework.
A 2026 D.C. Circuit opinion, Khalid v. TSA, describes the Terrorist Screening Center as maintaining the centralized watchlist and making No Fly List determinations in the first instance. It also addresses the redress context for people who challenge screening-related determinations. Khalid v. TSA (April 14, 2026) is a later institutional description; it does not determine what happened in the 2023 CommuteAir exposure.
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What the reports do—and do not—establish
- Reported: 2019 list files were found on an unsecured CommuteAir server and later surfaced on a hacking forum.
- Reported, not independently verified as a people count: more than 1.5 million entries, with duplicates and spelling variations noted in one contemporary account.
- Not established by the cited accounts: the number of unique individuals, the final outcome of TSA’s investigation, whether every forum copy was removed, or whether the live federal screening system was breached.
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