Lock business practices "security-by-obscurity" for 150 years

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/23/business/23LOCK.html?pagewanted=print&;
position=top
 
January 23, 2003
Master Key Copying Revealed
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
 
A security researcher has revealed a little-known vulnerability in many
locks that lets a person create a copy of the master key for an entire
building by starting with any key from that building.

The researcher, Matt Blaze of AT&T Labs-Research, found the
vulnerability by applying his area of expertise - the security flaws
that allow hackers to break into computer networks - to the real-world
locks and keys that have been used for more than a century in office
buildings, college campuses and some residential complexes.

....

The technique is not news to locksmiths, said Lloyd Seliber, the head
instructor of master-key classes for Schlage, a lock company that is
part of Ingersoll-Rand. He said he even taught the technique, which he
calls decoding, in his training program for locksmiths.

"This has been true for 150 years," Mr. Seliber said.

Variations on the decoding technique have also been mentioned in passing
in locksmith trade journals, but usually as a way for locksmiths to
replace a lost master key and not as a security risk.

....



 

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