Optical Lock Foils Thieves

opticsorg writes "A UK inventor has come up with a way to make what is thought to be an unpickable lock. The Optilock contains a bundle of up to six input optical fibers on one side of the lock barrel and a corresponding number of fibers on the other side. When a special key is inserted into the lock, it connects the fibers in a unique routing pattern opening the lock in a fraction of a second. Light then flows around the circuit until the key is removed and the circuit is broken."

Comments

Unpickable?

[climberkid]

Accually saying that this is an "unpickable" lock is risky. I mean, look at the efforts by the RIAA to prevent P2P, or the anti-burning CD's with the corrupt files that crash computers, someone fixed that with a sharpie. I think that making statements like that is seriously underestimating human potential.

Not unpickable

[SandSpider]

This is obvious, but the lock isn't unpickable, it's just going to take a while before people figure out how to pick it, and it'll raise the bar on tools needed for picking at most.

Also, while this will be handy for places with cement walls and thick steel doors, places with windows and weak door frames will still be vulnerable. Plus, of course, the social engineering attacks.

That being said, I'm a big fan of new, shiny locks, so hooray for the people who made it.

=Brian

Electronics

[aridhol]

According to the article:

Most locks are picked by [...] bypassing some sort of electronic control system. Rice's idea removes these vulnerable components.

Won't there need to be an electronic control system that determines when you have the correct light pattern? Just bypass (or hack) the light-detection system, and you're in.

Re:Electronics

[alienw]

In that case, any EE could design an unbreakable lock in about 10 minutes. Put a keypad on the front and the electronics in the back. To avoid getting the electronics hacked, make the keypad physically or electrically isolated from the rest of circuit. Then, the only way to bypass it is if you know the code - which could be very long.

Re:Electronics

[ivern76]

Remove keypad, insert new keypad that looks just like it and has a keypress logger. K?

Re:Electronics

[Atrahasis]

Put a keypad on the other side of the door that will only let you out if you enter a different code to the one you used to get in. That code is then the code you use to get in next time.

Of course, this is weak to people who will just use alternating codes, but security is always inversely proportional to convenience.

Probably not unpickable

[Anonymous Coward]

Certainly if you have a key you can replicate that key, for one. Secondly, can a master key be made that just shines takes light from one side and shines it down all the other holes ? What about one that is configurable, and can try different mappings quickly ?

Basically, this is no more unpickable than a card-swipe.

Finally, electric locks have a limited market, which is well saturated with card-swipe and PIN punch products.

Re:Probably not unpickable

[Anonymous Coward]

This assumes that the light is only transfered unaltered - the Key could just as easily filter, phase shift, combine or otherwise alter the light so that it is not an easy process to replicate.

Re:But it requires a power supply.

[aridhol]

In any case, any door that people will be behind will necessitate the latter, as otherwise they could get locked in during a fire,

Not necessarily. There could be a physical override on the inside that directly manipulates the latch. This allows an exit, even if the door is locked.

same problem as existing locks

[mugnyte]

picking a lock is just one part of a problem : the other is securing the key. in a bar, one could theoretically press a key into a mold for later duplication (old trick and not very efficient).

however, with an optical key, one merely has to carry around a recepticle that, in turn, flashes a beam through the key's inputs, and record the appropriate output. nothing physical needs to be made. in today's terms, i call in the sequence to a buddy who then lays fiber into a template and uses it. meanwhile, i engage conversation on target, reporting when she's left.

cars? are you kidding? these are even easier, merely get a job as a valet and start your database. since it's all just digital information, you have access to VIN and lock solution, license plate number and home town/state (if not entire address, since most people's cars have it somewhere - like the insurance docs). these databases could be traded online just like anything else.

while i think this is very interesting, it still is no substitute for bio-based locks. however, they have their own problems (seem like every part of the body can be captured/duplicated).

Unpickable?

[El]

With 6 optical fibers, aren't there only 6! or 720 possible different "routing patterns"? How hard would it be to construct an electro-optical devices that would simply run through all 720 patterns until one worked? And no, you can't disable the device for a fixed time when it gets a misroute, because it is obviously going to misroute while someone is inserting the key... and someone like me who has two almost identical keys on their keychain is going to get really pissed off when they insert the wrong one. Finally... haven't we learned by now that replacing a simple mechanical device with an electro-optical-mechanical device greatly increases your failure modes?

Semantic Issues

[fm6]

My first thought was that Jeremy Rice didn't use the U-Word, but that the reporter grabbed it as convenient journalese. (I have other issues with the reporter's use of language -- see below.) But all the news reports seem to be saying "Unpickable", which can only mean this is an actual claim. Perhaps "pick" in this context refers to the specific technique for physically probing the tumblers of a lock, not just a synonym for "disable".

It's all pretty moot anyway. Spies pick locks, but most of us are more concerned about more prosaic intruders. Who don't waste their time with picks -- they smash or jimmy.

What was my other semantic issue? Oh yeah, "failsafe". Come on people. if you mean "foolproof," say that. I'd like to see "failsafe" preserved for its original meaning, though my hopes are dimming!

I already know how it could be picked

[itwerx]

Not that the pick exists yet of course, but the simple fact that it uses light routes makes it pickable.
Since the light needs transceivers on either end and a physical interface in between for the key all you need to do is make a key with its own transceivers instead of simple light pipes (you'd probably have light-pipes out to an external device which would house a computer "brain" and the transceivers).
So you simply put the key in (or connect it or whatever the physical interface is) and let the computer start routing the inputs to different combinations of outputs.
It would be like the brute-force picker that Medeco has for their locks only maybe a lot faster!
However, having designed a pick, I can also think of half a dozen ways to slow it down enough to make it unuseable. :)
(If they're smart enough to figure out how to email me maybe I'll even tell them. :)