Work

[tesinth]

One of the cool things about my job is that I actually get paid to break into things.  Most of the time its desk or file cabinet drawers that the people lost the key for and I'm usually able to pick the lock with a bent paper clip, a small screw-driver and a little bit of time.  Other times it is a larger item (safety cabinet, control box, etc.)

Comments

[rfunk]

Fun!

There's a bit of a lockpicking subculture in the hacker community, including an old "MIT Lockpicking Guide" floating around the net. One conference I went to had a talk/workshop where people could practice.

But I understand that locksmiths and lock manufacturers hate it getting out when their locks are easy to get past. You'd think they'd use it as an incentive to make better locks, and that there would be some sort of consumer protection rules about people knowing about vulnerabilities in the lock they're buying.

[tesinth]

I think I've browsed through the MIT guide a while back, certainly picked up things online years ago when I would lurk around hacking/phreaking boards and whatnot. It is pretty easy to defeat a lock once you know how it works and is built which is just one of the many reasons why the internet rocks (I once defeated a cable jack lock by looking up its patent number application which had a crude diagram which showed its construction).

Yeah, locksmiths and lock makers get *really* pissy about such things, in most states I believe its still illegal to own a real lock picking kit without being a locksmith. We had a very old kit at the Union and when one pick broke we weren't able to buy a replacement.