20 February, 2003: Locks away

[ Home page | Web log ]

I went to a talk by Matt Blaze about the security of locks. He didn't say a great deal that wasn't in his paper on the subject, but it was interesting to see the attack demonstrated using a small selection of padlocks and a special key-cutting tool bought from eBay. This contraption apparently cost about $150, and, with a small set of blanks, allowed him to perform the attack in somewhere between five and ten minutes. Apparently it's quicker without an audience.... His comment: he doesn't believe that the physical security of locks is any better than the electronic security of computer systems. Nice.


Copyright (c) 2003 Chris Lightfoot; available under a Creative Commons License.