The use, breaking and securing of locks is an interest of mine that sometimes finds relevance in my daily life. I have no particular depth of knowledge nor skill in the subject, only enough to understand that basic workings of locks and on occasion pick one for the fun of it. On the topic of bypassing locks, Slashdot brought this to my attention recently.
Keys Can be Copied From Afar, Jacobs School Computer Scientists Show
They take photos of keys at a distance and then use the software they developed to recreate the keys from the images.
In one demonstration of the new software system, the computer scientists took pictures of common residential house keys with a cell phone camera, fed the image into their software which then produced the information needed to create identical copies. In another example, they used a five inch telephoto lens to capture images from the roof of a campus building and duplicate keys sitting on a café table about 200 feet away.
I’ve heard of some keys being reproduced from tracings or from semi-malleable materials being inserted into locks but this takes the whole hands-on aspect out of acquiring the means of access. A good telephoto lens and the right angle on a set of keys on a table and you will have all you need to reproduce a key without even coming within shouting distance of your subject.
Similar ideas with other access methods have been accomplished in the past. The long range video recording of ATM keypads comes to mind.
A good reminder that the security measures we use on a daily basis really only keep out the polite. While fabricating a key from a photo might still be beyond the realm of the common criminal the idea behind what they did on a more generalized scale is actually quite common.
When eating out I always take note of the other patrons who are wearing ID badges either around their necks or attached to their belts. One can often gather a full name, company and employed position just from a glance at these badges which gives a greater level of context when over hearing their conversations. In light of the topic at hand, a photo of the ID badge helps in creating a false replica.
On the other hand even that, is at times far more work than is needed. Peruse a company’s website and you may very well find high res photos of employees at events or functions often with their badges in plain sight.
The solution is simple and is actually policy at some companies. When in public remove your ID badge from plain sight. I suppose the same should go for keys now.
/boomheadshot