The knockNlock does look pretty cool for more serious applications. Its use of a specialized ‘knocking’ module and a more secure ‘rolling code’ system (like most garage door openers use now-a-days) makes it much more robust than the simplistic KnockLock.

Leonard

When I first read this, I thought you referred to http://knocknlock.com/ which is similar but made for higher security applications. For that you will even get (and need) a key that knocks for you…

Cheers
mh

The reference to the boat was made in “The Bureau” by Ronald Kessler and I have changed the article above to reference his description as a $10,000 boat instead of “large” (that was a subjective statement on my part).

In addition, I have clarified the body of the article to reflect that his lifestyle was, in part, a cause of eventual suspicion by the FBI (along with a possible attempted credit union breaking) and to include that his only conviction was for transporting stolen diamonds across state lines.

http://lockbumping.org

I can’t say for absolute certain it was Eric’s thinking that brought this about (and I’m sure he’d confirm it one way or the other – but it was at Defcon in 2006 that, while talking shop in his hotel room, he explained in detail to me how this exploit works.

Seemed odd to me that I couldn’t find any reference or credit to him in the Engadget article.

Thanks for the post though. I think this site is a great resource and has acted as a “highlights” page for the security/locksport world. Keep it up!

Josh

No question all the media attention has had an influence. At the same time that we’ve seen LP101′s numbers jump the LSI site’s hits have skyrocketed too. In particular, in the last 4 months we’ve seen several pretty high-profile media outlets talk about our hobby – much of it a spinoff from one little Associated Press blurb that came out of DefCon.

Though not everyone is all that thrilled, I couldn’t be more pleased. So many people that have never even though of the hobby of locksport are getting introduced to it. Good times.

Thanks for keeping track and making the graph. Very cool to see!

Cheers!

Josh Nekrep

For better or worse, it seems the whole situation has comparisons to another controversial topic, gun control. Obviously lock picks don’t steal things, just like guns don’t shoot people. Both activities rely on a human operator to do good or evil.

However just like wide gun availability impacts the environment of security professionals (notice a lot more policemen in the US carry a weapon and a bullet proof vest than Britain), so does the wide availability of lock picks affect those charged with physical security. In addition, the border-crossing, information replicating nature of the Internet has made putting the ‘lock picking’ genie back in the bottle impossible.

Therefore, it is vitally important that security professionals recognize this new, and changing playing field.