High Security Handcuffs Opened With 3D-Printed and Laser-Cut Keys 202
Sparrowvsrevolution writes "In a workshop Friday at the Hackers On Planet Earth conference in New York, a German hacker and security consultant who goes by the name 'Ray' showed that he could open high-security handcuffs from manufacturers Chubb and Bonowi with plastic copies of keys that he cheaply produced with a laser-cutter and a 3D printer. Both companies attempt to control the distribution of their keys to keep them exclusively in the hands of authorized buyers such as law enforcement. Lasercut plexiglass versions of the Chubb key, which opens handcuffs like the ones used in passenger airline restraints, were selling for $4 at the conference. Ray plans to post the CAD file for the key on the 3D printing site Thingiverse after LockCon later this week."
Re:"cheaply produced" (Score:4, Informative)
If you actually read the article, you'll find that he produced keys with a laser cutter and separately with a 3D printer. You don't need both.
Re:identical? (Score:5, Informative)
It has nothing to do with mass production. The reason is so that any officer can open any other officer's cuffs and time is lot lost trying to find the arresting officer and sorting out who owns which cuffs..
Re:identical? (Score:5, Informative)
...It's not like these things are impossible to get out of if you know what you are doing...
That would be the rub. They are quite hard to defeat compared to normal cuffs. Having an interest in the lockpicking community I can say hardly the top 5% of them could get out of these with improvised tools. Making a tool out of scrap bits of plastic makes them easy for anyone to get out of.
Anything a laser-cutter or 3D printer can do so can a human, especially locksmiths with an eye for detail. The skills are not dissimilar to watchmakers before precision machine tools. These new methods makes anyone of no skill and no talent be able to do what only highly trained, highly practiced people can do. That is a security threat.
Re:identical? (Score:5, Informative)
There have been commercially available disguised handcuff keys for a long time.
This one isn't terrible, but not the best I have seen either.
http://theawesomer.com/bracelet-with-handcuff-key/144904/ [theawesomer.com]
Note: The people most likely to want to get away after being apprehended are both guilty AND repeat offenders. The second factor being a group that might have the foresight to wear such a thing.
Re:Mcgyver (Score:3, Informative)
MacGyver (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088559/). Not offensive to some, but the difference between a Mc and a Mac is like calling a Suni a Shiite to others.
Re:Clever but stupid? (Score:4, Informative)
Who holds the design and patent rights to the keys?
Design and patent rights are a civil matter and not a criminal matter. Until there is a law passed that criminalizes the possession of handcuff keys there is nothing the police can do.
There is only one set of legitimate buyers for these handcuffs.
There are actually at least five sets and possibly more; police, prison guards, court house guards , private security and bounty hunters. Basically anyone who has a legitimate reason for detaining someone else.