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11-year-old Proves Locks Not So Secure
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!"
The concept of security is as much about perception as effectiveness.
This article's enlightening example just drives deeper a little concept I recently heard called security theater,
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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Um, which is [one reason] why we have to worry more. More people know about it.
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.
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.