NPR’s All Things Considered recently (December 23rd, 2009) did a short article about Locksports (lock picking contests). They interview Schuyler Towne, a well known lock picker, as well as, representatives from law enforcement and even a lock designer.
Due to the huge workload from some of my other projects, I am now releasing all of the safe manipulation software on AnalogHacking.com for free with direct download links. This includes the manipulation training and tracking aid, Contact Point Journal; the powerful, virtual replacement for magnifying aids & dial position measurement, VScale and, for those old school folks out there, a custom paper Vernier Scale creator, Vernier Scale Maker.
These programs are great for both the beginner in safe manipulation and the experienced professionals. Enjoy!
Everyone once in a while you run across a security device that is, well, just fun. One such device is the Knocklock made by the good folks at KnockLock.com.
Basically the Knocklock is a small computer that run on batteries (although an external power supply is supported) which listens for a series of knocks that you train it to recognize. Once the correct knocks are heard an internal relay in the device is activated. This can make all sorts of things happen, such as activating the electric strike* on a door. Even though the Knocklock can be programmed to recognize over one billion different codes, I really wouldn’t consider it ‘high security’ (especially considering that pounding out your combination could tip someone off pretty easily). However it could do any number of light security tasks, such as:
* Securing access to your kid’s treehouse (and it would probably make you the coolest dad/mom around)
* Give any secret passage or hidden compartment a real ‘haunted mansion’ feel
* A neat lock for your wine/spirits stash
* It would make a great Halloween display activator (just knock 3 times on the coffin and see what happens…)
The Knocklock
I put a Knocklock to work on the electric strike of a low security door in my office and it still makes me smile every time I tap out the code to open it. I must admit the Knocklock doesn’t work every time (you have to tap at a pretty fast and consistent rate) but even when it doesn’t open the first time, it is still probably quicker than fumbling for my keys (and lots more fun).
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* An electric strike allows a normally locked door to be opened because the part of the door frame which holds the door shut (the strike) has an electric release mechanism built into it.
Recently in a Barry “The Key” Wel’s blog entry, he describes a German Discovery channel show featuring FBI agent Ed Tickel. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Mr. Tickel was the ‘go-to’ guy anytime the FBI needed entry into a locked area. In the video (an excerpt is available on Barry’s blog) Mr. Tickel not only talks about his adventures fighting crime but also demonstrates his favorite lock opening method “impressioning”. Using skills like these he legally broke into various Mafia strongholds allowing agents to gather information and plant bugs without anyone knowing.
Unfortunately it appears that Mr. Tickel didn’t limit his activities to using his impressioning skills to helping bring the Mafia down. Instead suspicion over a possible attempted FBI credit union break-in and a luxurious lifestyle featuring a $10,000 boat and multiple sports cars caused Mr. Tickel to become a suspect of the FBI himself. Eventually he was convicted of transporting stolen diamonds across state lines. Mr Tickel himself denied any wrongdoing during his trial and suggested that it was a vendetta against him to cover up illegal surveillance he had conducted for the FBI. To find out more about the adventures of Mr. Tickel and his eventual downfall, check out the following book references/news articles:
Here is a link to a summary of the Washing Post story:
Former FBI Agent Gets 8 Year Term
An excerpt from “The Bureau: The Secret History of the FBI” that has a little more detail than the Post story:
The Bureau: Secret History of the FBI excerpt
And finally, after being convicted he claimed that the FBI used his talents illegally in several cases and this was used by a couple of Mafia members to file appeals:
Time Magazine Article
Skills like lock picking and illicit key duplication are rarely used in thefts. The reason is simple, it is a lot quicker & easier to simply kick the door in or pry open a window. Also the thief doesn’t need to try to hide the fact that here has been a break-in, the missing TV & stereo speaks volumes.
If someone is stealing mail for identify theft purposes, however, the crooks don’t want anyone to know that things are missing. If, for example, your locked mailbox had been pried open you would immediately suspect that checks or credit card information may have been stolen and cancel them. That is why ‘arrow keys’ are the Holy Grail to mail thieves. What are arrow keys? They are the master keys the U.S. Post Office uses to open all of the locked mail boxes along a certain route (a confiscated set is shown above). The post office tries to keep close track of the keys (they are supposed to be checked out and back in by Postal workers each time) but that hasn’t stopped criminals from obtaining the keys in various ways.
In fact, the methods used to get arrow keys range from as simple as a Postal employee gone bad (like the rural mail carrier who sold stolen postal keys) to sophisticated methods such as the ones used by Joseph Lau.
It appears that sometime around 2005 Mr. Lau graduated from using simple mailbox ‘fishing’ methods (using a sticky block of wood on a wire to retrieve letters from a drop box) to creating his own arrow key production technique. The method he used was to secretly video tape Postal Workers opening mail boxes along their routes. He would then enlarge still photos of the key and use that to cut a home-made duplicate. In all, Mr. Lau produced 23 counterfeit arrow keys and obtained almost $500,000 in stolen checks before being caught.
Mr. Lau is not alone, however, in the ‘custom’ arrow key creation business. A quick search of the Internet turned up several others, including Wendy Trail in 1999, Steven Gregory Freitas, also in 1999 (after a similar arrest in 1996), Craig Alden St. Clair in 2002 and Michael Hannah in 2006.
Although I have mentioned several times the most popular lock picking forum online today, LockPicking101.com, here are several others that I have come across:
Today (June 1st, 2005) Google News contained about 3870 online articles referring to ‘hackers’. Although I didn’t bother to check all 3870, I would venture to guess that nearly all of them were talking about computer hackers. Computer hackers (both criminal and otherwise) have become so well known that they are now a recognized group in our society. However the Internet has made possible the resurgence of another kind of hacker, the analog hacker.
Hardly new, analog hackers have been with us since the dawn of the industrial age. They are the fanatical inventors, builders and gadget freaks of the mechanical world (just like their computer hacking counterparts in the electronic world). Similar to Bell, Edison, Ford and others, they see physical devices as fascinating puzzles waiting to be solved, or at least, understood and possibly improved upon.
So how has the Internet changed analog hacking? Like a lot of other hobbies, it has brought together analog hackers from around the world and has created a virtual body of knowledge which never existed before. This has made possible everything from the Robotic Nerf Gun (http://www.ottawarobotics.org/nerf-cons.html) to family built solid fuel rockets (http://nar.org/index.html). However, the influence of the Internet has also put professions like locksmithing, which has been built upon ‘security by obscurity’ since the Middle Ages, under constant pressure due to leaked secrets and new research by analog hackers. This potential conflict, between analog hackers and our traditional bastions of physical security, is what this site is all about.
Some of the questions we will be dealing with include:
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