Unbreakable smart lock devastated to discover screwdrivers exist 3

[drawoh]

Let's lighten things up a little. The headline is from The Register.

Unbreakable smart lock devastated to discover screwdrivers exist

--
JHG

 

[drawoh]

It's also intriguing to see that many specific locks have specific vulnerabilities, but you'd have to carry an encyclopedia of locks around with you to know how to handle each specific one.

No problem. I think car theft works this way. Each bad guy develops a repertoire of cars, door locks and padlocks that they are able to open. They look for this, and they attack. If you use something else, this bad guy passes on you, and you worry about a different bad guy.

--
JHG

 

[BridgeSmith]

So as long as thieves are ignorant of how easy these locks are to defeat, they work. I guess that means the people who own them have to hope the thieves in their area haven't seen the youtube videos. Of course, anyone who spent over a hundred bucks on one of these locks should return it and demand their money back.

 

[Spartan5]

It's also intriguing to see that many specific locks have specific vulnerabilities, but you'd have to carry an encyclopedia of locks around with you to know how to handle each specific one.

There's an app for that.

Ok. Maybe not.

But it is one skill I'd like to get really good at before the coming apocalypse. If I'm trying to survive in a place where most of the people have been permanently displaced; getting into untapped reserves of whatever is behind lock and key will be of utmost importance.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

I can get into most 4-/5-pin tumblers in <30 seconds, even with mushroom/spool pins. Newly-pinned tumblers can present more of a time sink, but pretty much anything that is used regularly for more than a few months is pretty simple. House locks, for example, are NOT secure in any way, shape, or form against someone with a two-piece lockpick kit. I had to break into my own house several years back when I rushed out the door too soon... neighbor just happened to have a kit they picked up from an antique store several weeks before.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[dgallup]

What really amazed me is all handcuffs use the same very simple key. No wonder Houdini escaped from multiple sets in seconds. I now keep a key with my car keys, could come in handy some day.

----------------------------------------

The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.

 

[marty007]

I took a job between highschool and university at a ski hill, where one of my tasks was to manage a locker room for guests. The lockers were only for day use, so I had to remove any locks left overnight. Unfortunately, someone had stolen the bolt cutters and the place was too cheap to get a new pair, so I was left with a hammer and screwdriver.

I got pretty good at hammering those things apart, none of them are all that strong. That said, at the time I definitely give the strength award to the master locks:

 

[dik]

That type was easy... just get a key blank and remove all except for a little tab on each side at the bottom... There was a little U shaped spring that the key forced the 'legs' apart that gripped a notch on the hasp? also used to use a sharp cold chisel and shear the rivets off the laminations and then use the cold chisel to wedge apart the laminations... Hardest part was stabilising the lock to shear the rivets
three or four minutes and the lock would be apart. A really sharp cold chisel really worked well.

Dik

 

[Lou Scannon]

So far, the only problem I've had with locks is forgetting to lock them, forgetting or losing my key, or otherwise locking myself out.
I have enough insurance that I'm not afraid of a devastating loss due to theft, and my most precious physical possessions are nothing more than personal documents. I figure if I am a victim of theft due to breakage or picking of a lock that is suitable for the purpose, I will easily collect the insurance and move on. So I don't get too worked up about having an "unbreakable" or "unpickable" lock.
Now I understand personal security is a rather different matter but in my walk of life I feel no need for protection behind high security locked doors (excluding travel to destinations where such doors are provided as a matter of course).

"Schiefgehen wird, was schiefgehen kann" - das Murphygesetz

 

[cswilson]

In my middle school gym classes, we had to use cheap Master combination locks with 40 numbers, and a 3-number combination to unlock. Playing with mine, I noticed that you could successfully open the lock even if you were off of a number by +/-1. I also noticed that for the final number, you could just pull on the lock as you were spinning it, and it would open when you reached the proper number.

So it was really a case of finding only 2 numbers with 13 possibilities each. (I don't think they ever used 0 for a number.) So that came to only 169 or so actual possibilities, with an average of about 85 tries.

I did bet one kid that I could open his lock in less than 150 tries. I did it in under 100, but it was still so boring that I never tried it again.

 

[Lou Scannon]

I remember those locks. If you had a favorable sequence of numbers, you could open your own lock in about a second with a few deft flicks of the thumb.

"Schiefgehen wird, was schiefgehen kann" - das Murphygesetz

 

[JohnRBaker]

The combination lock on my gun safe is a three-number combination but after entering the first number, you have to turn it back past the second number twice until you reach it a third time then forward again past the third number once until you reach it a second time, and even then, you have to again reverse and go back to zero before you can finally turn the handle releasing the bolts holding the door closed. And the dial has a keyed-lock that has to be unlocked before you can even turn it to start with. I would say that's pretty safe. I've listened when turning the dial and there is no sound or any sort of sensation when you reach any of the numbers, only that last turn to zero can you feel the 'dog' being moved which then allows the handle to be turned.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[MacGyverS2000]

My gun safe is biometric (fingerprint)... it has several of mine and my wife's on file. Press button, hold still, <pop>.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[JohnRBaker]

I've had my gun safe for nearly 30 years, long before biometric or even electronic locks were readily available. Now if I needed a quick-access box for a handgun, that would be different, a biometric lock would make a lot of sense. But since I only have long guns, as well as my coin collection, the wife's jewelry and family papers in the safe, the minute or so that it takes me to open it is not an issue.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[JStephen]

I have my own unique security system.
One of the things burglars are going to look for is tools.
My approach is simply: scatter tools all over the house and garage, under piles of old junk, in cars, the sock drawer, under the sinks, etc.
I figure if I can't find my own stuff, how would a burglar ever find it?
He could break in at midnight and at daybreak, he'd still be trying to find that one last socket to make up a complete set.

 

[jayrod12]

My approach is simply: scatter tools all over the house and garage, under piles of old junk, in cars, the sock drawer, under the sinks, etc.

Someone else with my organizational system

 

[JohnRBaker]

When I was still working, that's how I filed papers on my desk. The theory was that once something made it to the bottom of the stack, it was ready to be moved to the 'circular file cabinet'.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[LionelHutz]

Do they make it easy to defeat so the user can easily get it open after the electronics fail?

 

[IRstuff]

When we moved into a new house, we found a couple of locks with jam keys stuck in them, and we thought we were being hazed, but it turned out that the fumigator uses these keys to prevent people from entering the house during the fumigation. What distinguishes this key from one designed to completely fubar a lock is that there's no slot, so this key can be removed with a tool similar to a lock pick.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

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[JG2828]

IRstuff,
That is a pretty smart way to stop people from opening the lock. Good find. You would think the fumigator would also be required to post warnings at every entrance, with a big red warning or something similar.

 

[IRstuff]

They do that, but people are either stupid or ignore the signage about toxic gases.

Burglars also tend to ignore the signage, as it's a perfect opportunity where the owners are known to be out of the house.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

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