After Hacker Exposes Hotel Lock Insecurity, Lock Firm Asks Hotels To Pay For Fix 244
Sparrowvsrevolution writes "In an update to an earlier story on Slashdot, hotel lock company Onity is now offering a hardware fix for the millions of hotel keycard locks that hacker Cody Brocious demonstrated at Black Hat were vulnerable to being opened by a sub-$50 Arduino device. Unfortunately, Onity wants the hotels who already bought the company's insecure product to pay for the fix. Onity is actually offering two different mitigations: The first is a plug that blocks the port that Brocious used to gain access to the locks' data, as well as more-obscure Torx screws to prevent intruders from opening the lock's case and removing the plug. That band-aid style fix is free. A second, more rigorous fix requires changing the locks' circuit boards manually. In that case, Onity is offering 'special pricing programs' for the new circuit boards customers need to secure their doors, and requiring them to also pay the shipping and labor costs."
Is there any guarantee on the new circuit board? (Score:5, Interesting)
The real question is not whether the lock company should charge for fixing the bug
The real question is whether there is a guarantee that the new circuit board (the upgrade) that the lock company provides is hack proof
Or put it another way ---
Will any e-lock company dare to guarantee that their e-lock for hotel room will be hack-proof?
Re:The cheap one is worthless (Score:4, Interesting)
tech overkill.
I use a Gator Grip [endeavorproducts.com] and have done for fifteen years. Yes, they work, no I don't work for them. Yes they're fantastic value and no, they don't charge for replacement in case of bad workmanship, act of Dog, act of Idiot, or jamming. I've only ever had to replace the small one because I managed to break it trying to loosen a disc brake caliper.
Master key systems can be hacked too (Score:3, Interesting)
I remember reading years ago about Matt Blaze, a security researcher at AT&T Labs-Research who discovered how to create a master key from a key and a lock which is opened by it. His method was a trade secret used by many locksmiths, which pissed them off when he publicised it.
http://it.slashdot.org/story/03/01/23/0359230/att-identifies-widespread-security-hole---in-locks [slashdot.org]
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/23/business/many-locks-all-too-easy-to-get-past.html [nytimes.com]
Re:You know what else can open a lock? A crowbar. (Score:5, Interesting)