11-year-old Proves Locks Not So Secure 454
An anonymous reader writes "A new security column at Engadget details the new 'old' threat of bumping locks. The article goes on to describe and demonstrate an 11-year-old girl bypassing a standard 5-pin lock at a recent DefCon Hacker Convention. The girl had no prior experience and didn't even understand the theory she was applying. Scary!"
Talent is where you find it (Score:5, Funny)
. The girl had no prior experience and didn't even understand the theory she was applying.
Sign her up as a /. editor, quick!
Re:Talent is where you find it (Score:5, Funny)
Wish I had mod points.
I dunno. The ability to give the clap seems a lot more meaningful.
Re:Talent is where you find it (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Talent is where you find it (Score:5, Funny)
Oh yeah? So how did you get rid of it?
Great... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Great... (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Great... (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh please. Has anybody ever put complete blind faith in the fact that they have locks on their doors as a guarantee that robbers can never get in to their house?
There is a lot of fear-mongering going on right now about this technique (and this is the second article posted on Slashdot about it in the past couple weeks). But all of this misses the fundamental point: locks have never been enough to keep thieves out.
What is generally enough to keep thieves out is a) basic human morality, and b) the law. Otherwise we'd all be getting robbed every single night - after all, most of us live within earshot of hundreds of other human beings.
Now, if this technique has suddenly caused you to lose faith in both of those things, then I don't know what to tell you - most people don't rest their entire faith in humanity on the sanctity of a door lock. And if you didn't have faith in those things before, then why did you think a lock was going to protect you in the first place? I would think a loaded shotgun under your pillow would be more your style.
The bottom line is this. If you've been robbed before, your locks didn't do you a hell of a lot of good even before this. And if you haven't been robbed before, there's no more chance that you will now. Because the reason you haven't been robbed isn't because thieves didn't think they could get past your door lock - there are a myriad of ways to get into a house for someone that wants to. The reason you haven't been robbed is because the law forbids it and basic human decency says people shouldn't do it.
Yes, there are thieves out there, and I'm not saying you shouldn't bother to have locks - if for no other reason than to keep snooping mailmen or nosy neighbors out. But knowing how to bump and actually breaking into a house are two totally different things. And unlike "script kiddies", breaking and entering is a crime that's taken very seriously - it is usually a felony - and the physical evidence is usually easy enough to trace, especially for an inexperienced thief.
No evidence of forced entry (Score:5, Insightful)
Evidence of forced entry not needed (Score:5, Informative)
Plus, any half-decent residential insurance policy will insure you for straight loss of contents, anyway. No need to even file a police report.
Anyone who's had a claim denied because they forgot to lock their doors really needs to shop around for better coverage, and possibly talk with a lawyer.
Note: this doesn't apply to commercial entities. If you're running a business and all you've got is an easily defeated lock to protect your interests, well...
Re:I think concern stems from auto policies (Score:5, Informative)
Mostly I respond to posts like the GGP because it's a common insurance myth, based on what our grandparents faced. It's much like the ever-popular "Acts of God aren't covered!!!" Yes, 100 years ago proof of forced entry was required, and "Acts of God" was a legitimate exclusion clause. However, these days neither is really true. Hail, lightning, windstorm - these are all "Acts of God" that have been covered for decades. Catastrophic natural disasters aren't.
I used to be an insurance geek. So, much like 5,000 Slashdotters scream when CNN gets a tiny detail wrong about technology, I try to correct these decades-old insurance myths whenever I can. Especially when people start advocating insurance fraud
Re:Great... (Score:5, Insightful)
I just bought a house a few months ago, and as one does when one buys a house, the first thing I did was to change all the locks, and throw some padlocks on the gates to the back yard. Then I had a security monitoring system installed (Brinks, recommended for their professionalism), and finally, the wife and I bought a small fireproof safe to store some documents and valuables in.
This whole process sparked off a discussion about security with a coworker who lives in a house valued at approximately four times my own, his house also being located in a gated community. The gist of the discussion was that there's no way to make your house totally secure, all you can do is add enough deterrants to make it less desirable for the common theif to break into your home. If someone really wanted to get into my place, they could, and if they knew exactly where to go and what to grab, they could really screw me and probably get away before the police were notified and showed up.
However, each layer of security, the locks, the security system, and the safe, adds a deterrant. There's the time that has to be invested getting in, the fear of someone hearing the alarm going off and the ticking clock of the authorities being notified and dispatched, not to mention the hassle of locating and gaining access to the inside of the safe. Only someone who invested some serious research time and effort could gain access to my valuables and get away with it. And for what? My passport, some petty cash, and copies of my legal documents?
The level of security has to match the value of what the security is trying to protect, and the common door lock is probably plenty of security for 90% of the people who have one. Only the truly paranoid, or those with something really valuable (or irreplacable), need more, and even in that case, not that much more.
In the end, my wife and I joke every time we set our alarm and lock our door that we hope no one steals our Fabrige Egg or Hope Diamond.
Re:Great... (Score:5, Informative)
If the door is locked, you make a hole in the cheap-ass low bidder drywall and either reach in and open the door from the other side or hell, just rip a big hole in the wall and walk right in. The door and all it's locks and alarms is happy to stand there doing nothing. Even if the alarm does go off, you usually have several minutes to do your work.
Fences? Hop over. Chainlink fences can be unbolted and taken apart, or cut. The best actors can cut the fence and put it back so it appears to be whole. Most junkies don't care. They steal a car and ram down the fence or the gate, or the house garage door.
Gated community? Not hard to get in, and generally a good hit because everyone inside thinks they're safe so they don't even bother with stuff everyone else would do to protect themselves.
Car club devices? Easy to defeat with the bump or several other extremely simple methods. Clubs are absolutely useless.
Car alarms? Most of them look for door openings as the trigger. Very few have motion detection. So you bust the window and crawl in like the Duke boys. No alarm.
Put valuables in the trunk/boot? Most trunks are not even part of the alarm. Not sure? Cut the horn wires, usually easy to reach under the radiator. Cut the battery cables for those cars where the battery is in the fender well. Tow the whole thing if it's a valuable car. Pop into a shipping container and off to China before anyone knows it's even been taken.
Junkies just want the radio to fence or the checkbook you left in the door pocket. Even they know how to avoid setting off the alarm. BTW, this is why most car break-ins are broken windows. It doesn't set off the alarm unless you open the door. This goes right back to the problem with house burglar alarms and the drywall. You just go around the protected area, i.e. the doors.
But hey, if it makes you feel better, put more and more and more locks on that door. It just makes the drywall look like an even better target.:)
BTW, on that safe? I bet the walls are thin. If not that, then there is some sort of physical weakness and a pro would have it open faster than the police would show up, but as you did note, the grab and run burglars wouldn't bother. But remember this: if someone wanted into that safe, BY FAR the easy way is to make you or your wife open it. YOU are your own weakness.
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I myself prefer guard dogs with bees in their mouths and when they bark they shoot bees at you.
-Eric
Re:Great... (Score:5, Interesting)
However, each layer of security, the locks, the security system, and the safe, adds a deterrant.
I have a friend whose parents' house has every security system I can think of. Big spiky locked gates, CCTV, the works. They get burgled more frequently than any other house on their street: it looks a lot like they have things worth protecting, and things worth protecting are worth stealing. Security != deterrant always.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Thus everybody locks their bikes when leaving them outside (for example at the train station). Still, locked bikes also get stollen.
If you leave your bike out around here, the easiest way to NOT have your bikes stollen is
Simply put, a bike with 2 locks is not worth the trouble for a thief if right next to it there's a bike with 1 lock (keep in mind the this is happening in an open pa
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I also get a kick out of all this security stuff. My house is *never* locked. I don't even think the locks work, but then again, I've never tried them. My Jeep is sitting outside in the driveway of my office right now - the keys are in the ignition. I have no windows in my office - the Jeep could have been stolen 45min ago, but I know it's still there. If its a nice day out, it has no doors or top on, and they keys are still in the ignition. My
Re:Great... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Recommendations: Abloy classic [abloy.ua] or Abloy Exec [padlockpeople.com]. Notice that both of these have discs, that need to be rotated to the proper position by tilted slots in the key, before the key can be fully turned. No springs to fool around with that wear out. Here's a detailed lockpi
Re:Great... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Great... (Score:5, Informative)
Bad guys can always break in... (Score:3)
b) You can greatly mitigate the possibility of running into bad guys by going somewhere where they are not (if you can afford it).
c) Put better locks on your door.
d) Arm yourself in a appropriate fashion (if your municipality still allows this reasonable option.)
BTW. "bumping" a lock is nothing, compared to what a sledge hammer can do.
Well, it's sorta like this (Score:5, Insightful)
Short story: this is what you get when ivory-tower nerds get a glimpse of what everyone else knew all along.
Long story: As you said, yes, IRL everyone knew that locks aren't "secure", and won't keep a determined thief out. Locks aren't even a deterrent. They're a bit of a delay and mostly a "if we catch you past this point, we'll throw your sorry arse in jail" marker. The deterrent is the law. If you went through all the trouble of climbing over the fence (or lockpicking the gate) and lockpicking the door too, we have all the proof we need of intent, and we'll throw your arse in jail.
IRL it's not even possible to make something 100% burglar-proof. Even if you had a 100% burglar-proof lock, someone could break a window instead, or hack down the door, or whatever.
IRL that's our security concept, and it worked for maybe 10,000 years. People don't even expect anything to be more secure, computers included. See all the SF settings where people find it natural that a computer from 10,000 years in the future can be hacked by just shooting the keyboard, or that a high-tech computer-controlled door can be defeated with two wires and a PDA. Or by just shooting the control pannel, Star Wars style.
Now enter the ivory tower of OCPD computer nerds, and trying to apply boolean rules to a RL that's made of continuums, and to problems that are more of a min-max problem than if-then-else binary constructs. In their world, either you're 100% secure or you're 100% unprotected and not even trying. Either something is 100% lock, deterrent, judge and jurry rolled into one, or it's crap. And, oh, unless you 100% secured your property or computer or you're an idiot. You see the kind on
So now one of those basically just discovered, "whaaaat? you mean RL locks have exploits and can be hacked?? and people just put up with that and didn't patch them yet???" It runs contrary to their whole (utopic) mental model. So of course they'll make a big fuss out of it, and think they've discovered some secret that noone else knew.
Re:Great... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Great... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Great... (Score:5, Funny)
-waspleg
Re:Great... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Great... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
We lost a keychain and had a professional pick all the doors, even doors costing a fortune with some really odd-looking keys. But when the locksmith saw the Abloy locks, he laughed, gave us a long stick, and told us to use it to get in. Stood there dumbfounded until he pointed at the window
When we got in after breaking the window, I ju
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Cheap house interior locks could also be picked by me in that manner. I don't think they're meant to keep out more than a curious ten-year old, but they didn't do that, even
Re:Great... (Score:4, Informative)
The ones in the house I grew up in even had the endcap easily popped off, allowing direct access to the plunger.
The trunk one is a bit more surprising since that should be a proper key, but I've often wondered just how effective car locks are. I remember I discovered my old '83 Firebird's door key would start a friend's GM truck (remember GM cars at the time had two keys, door and ignition). She got a kick out of it but it made me wonder.
pen lock picking (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
I have no idea how alarmist the article is - but if its true, it's disturbing.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
What changed?
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As it happens - I found one of the OLD Kryptonite locks in my garage this past weekend. Need to test it out!
P.S. At DEFCON they also had a professional device for unlocking barrel locks for $15
memories (Score:5, Funny)
Reminds me of high school.
Re:memories (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
The girl had no prior experience and didn't even understand the theory she was applying.
Reminds me of high school fantasies.
(you had left a word out)
deadlocks (Score:2, Informative)
It's certainly very uncommon for doors to be left with just that kind of lock in this country.
Re: (Score:2)
Not so much (Score:5, Informative)
Some deadbolts have no external component and can only be locked and unlocked inside. Totally pick proof, but only useful if you are home. Most have a normal pin lock on the outside. That makes them, pick and bump wise, no better than any other lock. There are high security deadbolts with better locking mechanisms, but you can get those better mechanisms on anything, including padlocks.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
They are thus immune to bumping.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Either way, Windows are still vulnerable.
Re:deadlocks (Score:5, Funny)
Look. There's no reason to bring Microsoft into this.
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It's been understood for a long time... (Score:5, Insightful)
The finest safes are only rated by how many minutes it will take a determined theif out.
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Re:It's been understood for a long time... (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, I watched a documentary about lock bumping a couple weeks ago. Lock bumping leaves -zero- sign of forced / illegal entry, and can be done very quickly and discreetly. In other words, it's very, -very- difficult to tell the difference in a lock-bumping incident and a stupid-employee / resident-leaving-the-place-unlocked incident and an outright insurance fraud incident...and just guess which of those three things your friendly insurance company will happily classify your claim under before rejecting it?
As with any security measure.. (Score:5, Insightful)
As with any security measure, be it a physical lock, a cipher, encryption, anything, it only works if you know how to use it properly. A cheap cylinder lock is secure enough to deter a passing opportunist (eg, not someone who carries a bump) and should be used as such. To secure your house or office you shouldn't look at anything less than a Mortis or a deadlock, and you should have at least two on each entry point. Windows should lock from the inside, again with deadlocks.
A cylinder lock is the equivalent of using ROT13 to secure a password file. It'll stop someone who's not trying to get in, but that's about it.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Maybe this would help keep the spyware off my computer...
ROT13 (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
You know, you can save yourself a bunch of CPU cycles by just using ROT26 instead.
Re:As with any security measure.. (Score:5, Informative)
Actually it seems to work against just about anything with split pins, regardless of its price. That's a helluva lot of locks.
To secure your house or office you shouldn't look at anything less than a Mortis or a deadlock, and you should have at least two on each entry point. Windows should lock from the inside, again with deadlocks.
I was intrigued by your statement, so I did some quick research. What I discovered is as follows:
Deadbolt locks* are cylinder locks; they just have the weight of a bolt holding the pins down instead of just springs. There's no reason why bump attacks shouldn't still be successful against this type of lock since the principle of bumping is somewhat different than pin scraping.
Mortise locks are just locks which are inserted into a hollowed out portion of the door -- it has nothing to do with the mechanism inside, and from what I was able to find out, most modern mortise locks contain cylinders.
* Which is what I assume you meant, since the only definition of a deadlock I can find is a situation wherein two or more competing actions are waiting for the other to finish, and thus neither ever does. I have no idea how you propose putting a deadbolt on a window, but maybe you meant something else.
References:
http://images.google.com/images?q=mortise%20locks [google.com]
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/tsb/pubs/phys_sec/g1-01
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadbolt [wikipedia.org]
Locks don't need to be pick-proof. (Score:5, Interesting)
This article's enlightening example just drives deeper a little concept I recently heard called security theater, [wikipedia.org]
Human psychology is certainly interesting - because on one hand we have people scared of box cutters, but on the other hand we drive 70mph mere feet away from each other every day.
Maybe it could be argued that security is primarily about perception.
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Re:Locks don't need to be pick-proof. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The typical burglar's biggest needs are to avoid detection and to take things that are easily converted to cash. Method: Shake hands with the house's doorknobs, try the ground floor windows, and if nothing is unlocked, kick in a door not visible from the stre
wmv9 now plays in fc5+livna (Score:2)
So you can watch this video...
Re: (Score:2)
When I was her age... (Score:4, Funny)
P.S. I also use to walk up hill both ways in the snow to school.
So... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So... (Score:5, Funny)
Don't need that much force (Score:2)
I amazed my upstairs neighbor when I managed to open his door when he was locked out, with the wrong key.
I didn't know the technique had a name.
There are locks that will resist this, like the Medaco locks that require the pins to rotate to open. I don't think bumping alone will get those lined up.
Video of Key Bumping (Score:5, Informative)
Quite fascinating how easy it is, and in the end of the video they even show a 17-pin lock being bumped!
If you are interested in the guys in the video, here is their URL http://www.toool.nl/index-eng.php [toool.nl]
High-tech locks foiled (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Even funnier is that they had more trouble bypassing the c
Bright Future In Something (Score:5, Funny)
Age 11 - 5 pin lock with wrong key
Age 14 - 7 pin lock with picks
Age 18 - Safes
Age 21 - Bank Vaults
So many banks...so little time
2 cents,
QueenB
Locks that resist bumping (Score:3, Informative)
They also have a section on locks that resist bumping:
There are mechanisms that do not allow for the two pins to separate except when slid sideways, such as used in the Emhart interlocking lock (which is not being produced anymore). As far as we can see, such a mechanism would successfully foil the bumping attack. Also some mechanisms which have a one-piece locking mechanism (such as a 'sidebar') may resist bumping. Locks that involve rotating discs (such as Abloy Protec) or magnets (such as Evva MCS and Anker) are also not susceptible to this attack. Klaus Noch sells modified standard Euro profile locks which lock up (i.e. 'broken but closed') upon most attempted manipulations, including bumping.
I found the Abloy Protec lock (with rotating discs) especially interesting and I'm going to get this for my own front door when I get the chance. On the same website they have an paper on the Abloy Protec as well: http://www.toool.nl/abloypart3.pdf [toool.nl]
Re:Locks that resist bumping (Score:5, Informative)
A number of systems will resist this type of attack. Probably the best is the Abloy, which I understand was bought out along with ASSA by Medeco. Alboy relies upon a sidebar; the discs need to be aligned, a sidebar drops into place, and the lock opens. I also understand there is a way to bypass this system, although the tools are pricey, resticted, and since Abloy locks are relatively rare in the United States, they remain relatively secure.
ASSA also relies upon a sidebar, with the code being cut into the side of the blank. The blanks are heavily restricted, and locksmiths have to account for all of them- even ones that are mis-cut. Of course, a sidebar can be regional, which is its biggest flaw; apparently they are more popular in Europe. If a local locksmith uses a given key profile, then it is simple enough to turn a given cut key into a "bump" key.
It would seem- although I have not tested it- that Medeco locks are immune; they require that the pins be brought to the correct height and that they be rotated (left, center, right- only three possible combinations) before the lock will open. Last I checked, it was still much easier to grind a Medeco out of existance than it was to pick it; they *can* be picked, but it takes many hours. I never liked Medeco, but since Abloy and other types of locks that offer higher security than hardware-store junk were either insanely expensive or no longer available, as their keys tend to be brittle and break right at the bow. But that's what I installed on the house; each door cost me $160 for a single-cylinder lock, but at least I know the lock is secure. Entry would have to be made in some other way than bumping or picking; further, high end locks also offer crush-resistant collars (to avoid "pipe wrench" attacks), better bolts (to prevent icepick and cutting attacks), and so forth. They just *weigh* more- it's not pot metal and good intentions in every box, unlike some makes.
True story: in the early 1990's, some genius figured out that every high-security door lock on the market could be attacked in seconds- sometimes faster than using the key- with an ice pick or a bit of wire or welding rod. Pierce the door in the right way that the tool can be used to push back part of the bolt, and you're in. Ice pick attacks were popularized, but the wave of thefts never manifested. Newer generations of bolts were issued that prevent this type of attack.
"Bumping" presents a somewhat higher threat level given that it works on more commonly available locks, which are used on probably 95-99% of homes in the United States. Given that a "Kwikset" can be bypassed with a sheet metal screw, a screwdriver, and a pair of "Vice Grips," it's a wonder more homes don't succumb to this sort of stuff every day. Fortunately (?), thieves rarely look at a home the same way we do; a good burglar or a drug addict desperate for a $20 fix will use whatever tools and techniques are handy, at great expense to society. Given that these individuals might be able to sell their gains for perhaps 10% of their value, the amount that either has to steal and re-sell to get by is quite remarkable. They don't pick locks, and they probably won't use "bump" keys.
Bumping is even easier... (Score:5, Insightful)
Years ago I was at a tech flea market and - on a childish whim - bought a fairly nice set of lock picks (which are legal to sell in that state, unlike some). FYI - I am of the "Man from UNCLE", "T.H.E CAT", "The Prisoner", and "007" generation so I always wanted to be able to pick locks like the spies.
I even bought a lockpicking book ("Lock-picking Made Easy" by Lenny the Wire) I always liked that name.
I soon found out how incredibly easy it is! After picking my first lock (a random key lock I had laying around) I went to Home Depot and bought about a dozen key locks of various mfgrs and proceeded to pick 'em! I then did all the locks on all the doors on my house. Then I worked on my suitcases. I even did the lock on the li'l box I stored my 5 1/2 PC diskettes in. Then I did both cars.
What I learned was:
"No key lock is really secure. None are pick-proof."
"Most are ridiculously easy to pick. Even those circular-key vending machine ones."
"The bigger they are, the easier they are to open."
"Car locks are a lot harder."
The "skill" I developed has come in handy once or twice, but that's not the real virtue of it. It teaches you that locks are jokes. They keep out the already-honest, and the occasional lazy thief.
That's not realy true (Score:4, Informative)
That does not mean, of course, you can't pick one, but it's much harder, and requires a lot more training. They aren't a perfect system, but they sure aren't a joke. Also, despite being quite large, they are quite secure.
There's other brands of high security locks too, and they are similarly hard to deal with. It's just not more common because the construction needed for them is quite a bit more. A Medeco Maxium will run you like $200.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Ahh but (Score:3, Interesting)
Tension Wrench and Rake? (Score:4, Informative)
Made a set myself out of small allen keys.
They described the 'rake' technique where you put tension on the cylinder and just
zip a zig-zagged piece of metal against the pin.
With a little practice I opened many locks...didn't even have to bother going
pin by pin. As soon as you got one pin above that line, the upper pin
kinda 'snapped' over and stayed up.
Worked great on old worn out locks.
Zzz ZZzz ZZzz (Score:3, Informative)
Locksmiths can buy a pick gun from locksmith suppliers. It's looks like a handheld staple gun, and you slot the straight strenghtened steel tip (looks like a small metal cable tie) into the gun.
It works by bumping the whole steel tip up about a 16th of an inch, at which point you twist the entire gun anti-clockwise to open the lock while all the pins have been knocked just as the article describes.
This came as part of a back-of-the-magazine locksmith "diploma"
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Scary when it comes to insurance... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Scary when it comes to insurance... (Score:5, Insightful)
if robbed, use crow bar to force open window before calling the police.
Re:Scary when it comes to insurance... (Score:4, Insightful)
Note to readers: this is extremely BAD advice (Score:3, Insightful)
Secondly, if you ever have a claim denied due to lack of proof of forced entry, talk to a lawyer. Next time, look around for some better insurance. A good insurance buzzword to look into is "All Risk". This sort of coverage even covers you if you do so
Do you even need a key? (Score:2)
A key (either cut or blank) for the proper keyway must be possessed or obtained in order to create a bump key to open a lock. This becomes the most critical issue in success or failure of bumping.
You would think that a bent piece of music wire would do the trick. All the key provides is a series of ramps and torque. A zigzag can provide both, though a second wire might be better for torque. So much for that obstacle.
This is an issue for post office boxes, safe deposit boxes and t
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Not that it can't be done, mind you, but it's easier to learn with the bump key method.
no updates (Score:2, Funny)
Expensive hobby (Score:2, Funny)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammer/ [wikipedia.org]
Locks are meaningless for average people (Score:5, Interesting)
They also probably have several windows, glass patio doors, and the like at easy-access level around their home. Most don't have bars on them.
Even those that do have bars probably live in framed out housing, where going through a wall is a trivial feat for a determened intruder with a simple sledgehammer.
But the reality is that locks are deamed necessary because they keep out the casual intruder. The person who will enter only if there is not the most minimal level of effort required to do so.
Beyond that, they are not a security device. They serve that one, minimal function well, but that's all they do.
For instances where a lock is actually protecting something of value, it is usually only one aspect of a much more sophisticated security system. In those instances, the lock serves as an authentication device "this person has a key, therefore they are authorized," and could just as easily be replaced by any other type of authentication system. As again, it can't provide protection on it's own.
That's something that any good locksmith will tell you -- if they can install it, they can bypass it. And so can any other person with access to the right tools and knowledge.
Why on earth is she there? (Score:4, Funny)
Won't somebody please think of the children?
Re:Why on earth is she there? (Score:5, Informative)
She actually had quite a bit of interest in locks. I taught her how to pick locks the day before. Matt Fiddler taught her how to bump them the day that video was taken, and Mark Weber Tobias thought it was really cool to see. She enjoyed picking way more than bumping (it's more of an intellectual challenge).
Now, she didn't seem to be that interested in the interviews (yes, there was more than one)... She wanted to get back to the locks.
What do you believe is a better place my daughter could've been that weekend? The mall?
She wasn't too happy when we mentioned getting someone to watch her for Defcon 15, so I think we all had quite a good time there.
I tried bumping the lock on my back door (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, we're really secure around here.
Right Place Right Time? (Score:3, Interesting)
Looking at it the wrong way (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
It's WMV, which is both patented and trade-secreted. MPEG-4, by contrast, is only patented.
Re: (Score:2)
-Rick
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Can you take me with you this year? I want to see if I can win the wardriving contest! I promise to pretend being sweet, innocent, and clueless.
You will notice that the girl is wearing a white badge, which is $100, and otherwise dressed appropriately. Not the youngest person I saw there anyway.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
*shrug* I'm not sure what difficulty you are having. The whole reason you're reading an article about an 11-year-old doing this is not because she's a prodigy (that is orthogonal to this discussion), but because the