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Kryptonite U-Lock Security Flaw
An anonymous reader writes "Once upon a time, a magic marker was able to defeat the Key2Audio copy protection scheme of older Sony CDs. Now, it has been shown that a Bic pen can easily open several models of Kryptonite U-locks. Please patch your systems, or install a tracking device on your bikes!"
sure this site will be /.ed soon....
$> man woman
$> Segmentation fault (core dumped)
They probably figured that would be theives wouldn't know how to write anyway. I'm sure it was found ver secure against a crayon.
Now if they'd only open-source these locks...
Buy a pen.
Win a free bike.
Does anyone else get the feeling that they are watching porn when they watch those videos with the guy wriggling the pen in the keyhole and then trying to pull the lock open? There is something inherently dirty in that...
In other news, Kryptonite announced a new line of locks with a build-in wifi receiver to automatically download and install "lock security patches". A spokeman said that "this initiative was inspired by Microsoft's successful Windows Update program".
... with a Garmin GPS receiver, and a Cell phone, I am looking for a bit of hardware to interconnect them so that if the bike takes off it will call me and I can report it's tracks to the local constabulatory.
Of course with my luck the thief will think the cell phone and GPS are a more attractive theft item than the Bke...
-Rusty
You never know...
Sorry everyone, I couldn't resist. So does this mean I can get arrested for my Bic pen? Its now a burglary tool now...
-- Mace only makes me hornier.
at least one person won't be able to open this lock: Superman.
Buy a pen.
Win a free bike a week earlier than slashdot readers.
After all, this is slashdot.
...the DMCA will soon make pens illegal.
Wow, that sounds great. I was expecting to see a free Service Patch on their website to fix the security flaws. As far as I know that's how businesses take care of flawed products nowadays.
I always thought that a bic pen should be on that list =)
I used a bic to open some used pc caselocks the other day. Just cut if off with an exacto where it was the right diameter, and ground it in there until it grabbed. On a bike lock, definitely a bug. On a PC case, I consider it a feature... because somewhere, under the ground, there's a strange sweaty gnome with a high pitched voice who stashes them in a desk drawer right next to a pile of everyone's lost socks.
Someone had to do it.
Quick! Sue BIC under the DMCA as a device that can defeat a security lock
Too bad we couldn't just live in a society where we wouldn't have to worry about theft! :(
You know slashdot's anti-Kryptonite bias. All these anti-kryptonite zealots here. Geeze, this place is becoming the free republic version for the anti-kryptonite zealots. You just know if a flaw like this was found in BSD or Linux, it'd be played down.
Yes, I am mocking all the MS sympathizing weenies who come out in full force to decry anything negative about MS at all, whether deserved or undeserved.
The solution to the problem, THAT is the issue. Let's gather around and think of what the big organizations/individuals would do to solve a problem such as this.
US goverment: Liberate bike from thief using a squadron of B2 bombers. At one point or another, several brits die, even if Rhumself has to find them and kill them himself. Bic pens linked to Al-Qaida.
Australian goverment: Send in Steve Irwin. If he gets killed, it's a good thing. If catches the thief, it's a better thing.
Brittish goverment: Sod the thief, fancy a scone, dear chap?
United Nations: Convene in an emergency session, go into recess after 10 minutes for cookies and tea. In the end, they condemn the theft but none of them manages to do fuck all.
European Union: The French and the Brits start bitching at eachother about which country has superior Bic pens. Germany and Spain wonder since when the damn Brits are part of Europe. The rest of Europe tried to talk tough before getting bitchslapped into submission by Germany and France.
RIAA: Claim that people who open locks use it to fund terrorism. Randomly sue locksmiths.
Microsoft: Vehemently deny existence of faulty locks. Release hotfix for existing locks, which consists of pouring glue in keyhole.
SCO: Sue Bic, 3M, Canada, a random seagull and the tooth fairy for copyright infringement on their proprietary way of opening locks with ballpoints.
Richard Stallman: Proudly proclaim the bike simply wanted to be free.
Eric S Raymond: Something irrelevant that contains a plug for "The Cathedral and the Bazaar".
Larry Wall: Make all locks so confusing that thieves don't know how to open them. Nor do the owners. Or manufacturers, for that matter.
George Lucas: Make a movie about bikes being stolen with Bic pens. Milk this movie out until 2050.
Bruce Willis: Get a bunch of oil drillers to find the thief and shove a nuke up his ass. And for the love of Eris, someone PLEASE screw Liv Tyler!
I would agree, but since I'm typing this on my stolen copy of Windows. I'd better not.
"Was it a millionaire who said 'Imagine No Posessions?'" -- Elvis Costello
From TFA (Boston.com):
:)
"This is an extremely big deal. Kryptonite is the Microsoft of locks," said Brown, who estimates hundreds of thousands of the U-locks have been sold over the years. Kryptonite will not divulge sales numbers.
Well, they certainly are more like Microsoft now. Good for them
Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!
"Many in the bike community fear drug addicts and high school pranksters will go wild with Bic pens this weekend, leading to a surge in the crime statistics"
Drug addicts and pranksters have places to go too.
When I lived on OSU campus, I had someone try to steal my bike. The odd thing is that the bike was over 14 years old, had the brakes hanging off of the handle bars, and was missing the chain for the wheels. Still, someone went through the effort of cutting my bike lock to take it. I found the bike about 20 feet away from where I locked it, probably where the person first noticed it had no chain to ride away with.
So keep on reloading, Slashdotters! Hundreds, nay - Thousands! - of cyclists' dreams are in your hands!
* Yeah, I know there are mirrors and the Google cache. Yeah, this is a joke.
In related news, Kryptonite has also come under fire from critics for killing Superman.
You can't blame Kryptonite. Those no-good villains at Bic have perpetrated the heinous crime of manufacturing a device that can be used to bypass the Kryptonite security system!
This is a clear DMCA violation if I've ever seen one.
Is it wiggidy-whack?
"This is you left and that's your left. This is your right and that's your right. You're gonna die!
And as a side note, let me tell you that everything you've heard about Swedish women is absolutely true. I met more tall blonde women there than any other place on the planet. Blonde isn't quite right, though. Not like Marilyn Monroe blonde. It's more like dishwater blonde. And friendly...not like on this side of the world.
And they serve beer with lunch.
Let's see legions of tall blonde friendly women, beer with lunch, you can go like hell on the freeway and free bikes. Is that a great country or what? Throw in free broadband and you'd be right into /. nirvana.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
I just leave a big hungry Rottweiler with an attitude problem tied to my bike. It's great because nobody will steal the bike, and when I need that extra boost going up the hills, I yell "Chopper, sic balls!" and point at someone up the street.
When stationed at Kunsan AB korea, circa 1993, the only transportation option open to enlisted people was a bicycle. You could buy one at the base BX for about $100 bucks. For an additional $4.oo dollars, you could buy a chain with a built in combination lock. The biggest problem with the entire system was this.......EVERYONE had the same model bike, and the same chain/lock. You could literally spend a half hour trying to find the bike and chain that belonged to you. This was quite a problem for some of us, untill we learned that with a bit of tension on the lock, and a bit of manual dexterity, you could open any of the locks in about 45 seconds. After that, we all adopted the idea that those of us that had purchased a bike, but couldnt find it anymore, could just go ahead and ride what ever bike was handy. After all, EVERYONE had the same bike and lock, so really...........all bikes were secretly the one you bought. Therefore, if you were able to pick the lock, you were entitled to ride the bike. This Utopia breaks down when you consider that in most cities, not everyone buys the same bike and lock. Therefore, it is incumbent on the government to provide everyone with a bike, thus insuring that there is no need for anyone to steal a bike. I will be putting this idea to my senator soon.....hopefully everyone will have a new bicycle in time for the novemeber elections
Today's show is brought to you by the number 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0: 25
guess that's because most north americans don't ride bikes, but cars...
Number of bicycles per 100 people in America in the year 2000: 4. In Sweeden: 90.
The point is that I imagine that the number of bikes per hundred in other countries is probably a lot higher than in the US. The relevant thing here would probably be the number of bikes stolen as a percentage of total bikes.
Man up and get yourself a goddam SUV! Only a damn clog-wearing fairy would ride a bike anyway! And how do you ride a bike with clogs on, anyway?!?
I was expecting to see a free Service Patch on their website to fix the security flaws. As far as I know that's how businesses take care of flawed products nowadays.
That's SO pre-DMCA. The way companies deal with it *nowadays* is attempt to sue the pen manufaturers.
As opposed to some people to have to jump out of airplanes without parachutes, just to feel dead?
"He who throws mud, loses ground." - proverb
What do serial arsonists gain?
A secure job at the fire department.