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The Study of Physical Hacks at DefCon
eldavojohn writes "DefCon usually focuses on electronic security, but Saturday a talk was held that focused on possibly the oldest form of hacking — lockpicking. As software security becomes better and better, the focus may be shifting towards simple hacking tips like looking over someone's shoulder for their password, faking employment or just picking the locks to gain access to the building where machines are left on overnight. From the article: 'Medeco deadbolt locks relied on worldwide at embassies, banks and other tempting targets for thieves, spies or terrorists can be opened in seconds with a strip of metal and a thin screw driver, Marc Tobias of Security.org demonstrated for AFP ... Tobias says he refuses to publish details of 'defeating' the locks because they are used in places ranging from homes, banks and jewelers to the White House and the Pentagon. He asked AFP not to disclose how it is done.' I'm sure all Slashdot readers are savvy enough to use firewall(s) but do you know and trust what locks 'physically' protect your data from hacks like these?"
...with a Smith & Wesson (or a Glock, or a Bushmaster, or a Remington).
>>do you know and trust what locks 'physically' protect your data from hacks like these?"
I know I weld my doors shut nightly. You should too!
Shiny. Let's be bad guys.
"...simple hacking tips like looking over someone's shoulder for their password."
How far the meaning of this word has come from it's original usage.
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
Because doors are riddled with 0-day exploits in the frames and hinges. With even a small vehicle, you can exploit a stack-overflow in the frame, popping the entire door out. DOS attacks against hinge pins can also be used to completely bypass a lock.
The cuts in the key are individually angled so they rotate the tumblers as well as lifting them. Slots in the tumblers are lined up by the rotation to unlock a sidebar that fits into a longitudinal slot in the cylinder.
Bump keys can't even get started opening that.
More burglars have feet than have lockpicking skills. Step one in physical security is to combat kick-in attacks. Replace your strike plate, which I can almost guarantee is inadequate, with a reinforced model like the Mag-3 and most important, install it with #10 wood screws at least 3" long, so it can't tear out of the studs when subjected to a good kick. Predrill the holes and put soap on the threads so you don't break screws as you install it.
A block watch is a great idea too. Neighbors are a security mechanism.
An alarm system also protects you against fire, which depending on where you live can be a bigger threat than burglary.
From what the original poster's article said, this appears to be a valid method against the original Medeco and the Medeco Biaxial line [1], but I don't see how this would have any effect at all versus the latest Medeco3 mechanism (well, latest since 2003), which uses side bitting on the key as well as the usual Medeco rotating pins.
Other than Medeco, there is one type of lock that would be excellent for security, Abloy's Protec line, which from what I read takes 10-12 hours to pick even for the pros at detainer disk type of locks. However, the Protec line isn't sold in the US. Older Abloy lines are decent, but it would take far less time for a pro to pick them open. There are other high security locks out there, and one can read from a lock site what the weaknesses are of each of them.
Nothing is 100% secure. If some thief is determined enough to bypass something, they can.
Lastly, high security locks just one tool, in a toolbox of security options. If its worth locking with a high security cylinder, its worth having a centrally monitored alarm system (with a duress code [2] option.)
[1]: Biaxial isn't that much more secure than the original Medeco, but it allows for (IIRC) 10 times as many key combinations, allowing for more flexible keying options.
[2]: Yes, home invasions are on the rise, so make sure an alarm system has a duress feature (where it disarms, but silently calls the central station)... and USE the alarm. If at home, use the alarm's "at home" feature which monitors the doors and windows, but doesn't arm the IR detectors. A high security lock is no good when it is opened by the owner at gunpoint.
You seem to know a thing or two about Medeco locks (like the fact that there's a diff. between the original and Biaxial). If you know/see something about the article I don't, please let me know. My father worked for Medeco (and I briefly worked in their factory one summer) and I'm sure he'd love to know.
Also, last I heard, there was still a reward offered by Medeco for picking a lock at their headquarters in Salem VA.
$7.95/mo, 200 GB disk, 2TBxfer, MySQL, PHP, RoR.
One summer I was forced to park right in the same neighborhood as crack houses, etc, because of where I had to work. As did my co workers. They all locked their doors and trunks, result, all of them got busted glass and popped trunks. I warned them too, I really did, I said "look at reality, these cars are targets now". Nope, none of them listened. I left my doors unlocked and the trunk slightly open, just eased down. The ride was so old and ratty I wasn't afraid of it getting stolen, albeit that was a chance. There was nothing left in the car to steal, a very cheap in dash radio not even worth a dollar at a pawn shop, but I made it easy for the crooks to ascertain that, because I knew they would look.
Ya, it sucked doing that,the principle rankled me, but my practical nature took over, because it was better than having to replace a door window.
Most modern stick frame construction houses are vulnerable to a razor knife. Just pick a section of wall and slice a hole. You got plastic siding, a thin tyvek sheet, some cheap ass pressboard stuff,(glorified cardboard really), some spun fiberglass insulation, then drywall. That's all you need, a couple minutes with a razor knife and any thief can get in easy, let alone if they use something like a cordless sawzall thing.
The OP's article really didn't have much detail, but there are other sites that one can check out that have more details on attacks on Medeco locks.
The Medeco reward I've heard about in a number of different forms, so I'm not sure the exact details. Last I heard, if someone can pick 3 Medeco cylinders (the six pin type found in deadbolts, not the four or five that are used as replacement for disk tumbler cylinder replacements.), they get a prize. However I have no clue what the real status of that is.
Nothing is unpickable by someone who knows their stuff and has the manual dexterity. Its slowing people down, to where even a skilled lock manipulator will take hours to open the lock, which will most likely mean detection. Its also forcing someone to leave a signature (scratches), so if stuff does get taken, one can prove to an insurance company that a lock was defeated or something was broken.
Mushroom pins help, but are just one security mechanism, forcing locksmiths to jam the pins up, then let them float downward to the shear line, rather than pushing pins up from their resting place. I'm pretty sure the sidebar is pickable by some tool that rotates the pins, as its talked about on various lockpicking sites.
This is one reason I recommend high security locks. If someone kicks down a door or breaks a window, that leaves a noticable signature where a claim with insurance has more ground. If someone's house is robbed by a bumped lock, there is no trace, and it goes to a word against word thing to prove that stuff was there, and is now not.
It may be the security has nothing to do with the tumbler mechanism. In some locks are weaknesses that have nothing to do with the cylinder used. For example, one lock I have has a very pick resistant cylinder, but one can use a shim and the lock pops right open.
Lastly, some people may state security through obscurity, but I'm glad that the methods of opening Medeco deadbolts are not made public. Physical locks can't be updated like most programs can. Every cylinder in a building would need replacing, and that would amount to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, factoring in parts, labor, the time it takes to deploy a new keying system, getting the new keys to all the employees, etc.
Locks are easy compared to trying to unhook her bra with your left hand in the dark.
Also if guns are the cause of all evil how come after they were mostly banned in the UK the crime rate hasn't budged, knife murders are way up, burglaries are 3 times that in the US and rapes are also close to 3 times that in the US (rate wise of course).
This argument always pops up when the topic is guns. And I always counter by asking why Finland, which is in the top five when it comes to guns per capita, has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.
The roots of the American crime problem lies somewhere else than guns. Try income inequality and poverty if you really want some kind of beginnings of an real answer, instead of reinforcement to preexisting memes.