Is your house locked? GUESS AGAIN.

Bumpkeys have been around for a while. I have a set, but honestly, it's much more fun to just pick locks rather than bump them. Bumping's more of a gimmick as far as sport lockpicking is concerned.

That's not to say that it's not a problem. Unfortunately, groups like Toool have been warning about these problems for years and nothing has been done about it.

 

You know what they say " Locks are for Honest People"

 

I don't know if this works on all cars but still pisses me off showing people how easy it is to do.

http://www.metacafe.com/f/fvp/EmbedVideoPlayer_4.0.1.5.swf?itemID=410981&normalizedTitle=blondie_unlocks_car&postrollContentURL=http://www.metacafe.com/f/fvp/EmbedItemSelector_2.0.0.2.swf&mediaURL=http://lln-videos.metacafe.com/ItemFiles/%5BFrom%20www.metacafe.com%5D%20410981.2911050.11.flv&embeddingURL=

 

Conventional key locks? Pssst. Please, this is the 21st century. No one is getting into our house, we have an RFID digital door lock.

And if you live in a good neighdorhood, and you have a good alarm system on your house, then I would see no threat from bumping.

 

Be right Back Guys.....

 

Wow, it worked...my apt. needs a new system..

 

I'd be scared of a real life DoS attack -

"Powered by two rechargeable batteries - appx. 1000 entry battery life - warning alert when 50 entries remain"

Since it appears that the potential crook can see how much battery power is left, could he/she try to keep pressing their finger against the scanner (or try to drain the battery someway) until the battery dies? If that happens, is there some sort of manual override? And if there's some sort of manual override, how secure is that?

 

Did you see how easily the "Mythbusters" beat this kind of lock on their "movie break-in" episode? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhllPkr4kIg

I just wonder why they didn't lift the latent print from the lock scanner surface itself.

 

I don't think it would be *that* difficult to lift a decent print from the outside of your house... I'm sure the outside of your car, the door handle at the house, or even a window near the door would probably be a good start for lifting a print... You could probably even use scotch tape to do it.

 

That was my point about the Mythbusters episode. They went to that roundabout method of pulling a latent Grant print from a CD jewel case to get their "clean print".

Isn't it obvious?:

You leave a latent print on the lock scanner every time you use it!

Dust the scanner plate, apply moist paper, and you're in.

 

The current hot item is the RF proximity badge reader -- with or without a keypad. http://www.nokey.com/ieiproxreada.html

The same "badge" can be used for more than just doors. Parking garage gates, building doors, computer login access, even elevators (to go above the lobby level) can all be keyed to the same prox card.

The badge contains your "credentials"; the lock has the list of which credentials get access. The "badge" contains an RF-powered data chip, which transmits your credentials info to the scanner. While often placed in a card or ID badge, the chip can be mounted in something smaller.

Note that many new cars have proximity chips in the keys, so a key without a properly programmed chip may unlock the steering column, but won't start the car. I think Beretta is experimenting with a system so that only the owner (wearing a prox chip ring) can fire the gun.

The slogan on security is "what you have plus what you know", so a prox reader with a keypad (for a pin code) meets that requirement.

If you want to add fingerprint scan for fun, there's this: http://www.alibaba.com/catalog/10814166/Proximity_Scanner.html

But if they can steal your access card, they can also cut off your finger. The PIN code plus access card is the better combination (have + know).

But most of these systems are built for enterprise environments: thousands of employees and dozens of doors, run from a central computer system to determine who gets through which doors. There aren't many home sized installations yet.

And there isn't much standardization yet, either. It seems silly to me to have to carry around three or four different prox badges all saying that I'm me ... in different formats. Several different systems can read the same badge -- if they are using the same type of format badge.

There may come a time when your Social Security card is a proximity badge. And your employer can simply program their system to recognize your gov-issue ID card to let you into your office (or labs).

But maybe not. Technology keeps marching along, and how many people still have their original Social Security cards?
(Well, I do; but then I still have my old draft card, too. )