That is amazing… Why can’t lock manufacturers hire lock pickers to learn how to improve their product?

This guy’s great. I didn’t realize that whole kryptonite lock fiasco was his doing.

@wolf, I remembered it because I read all about him when it happened. I love it.

@ssimon, thanks for the lack of help. I’m certainly not computer illiterate, it was the fact that there are several videos on wired about lock picking that mention Tobias and I don’t know which video Elliot was referring to.

This article was dragged out for six pages, it only needed about 2, but was still a good read. Tobias does exactly what I do to software and I get the same response he did. None.

lock picker WHO has run afoul
sorry but that’s a major pet peeve of mine. People deserve to be called people.

@sum1 the phrase “pet peeve” is a major pet peeve of mine. Particularly since I haven’t heard anyone say “pet” or “peeve” in that sense in any other context. It doesn’t sound clever, just cliche.

as a finn, it’s always interesting to see pin tumbler locks [1] such as those in the videos in the article used abroad even in the supposedly high-security applications, when in Finland the norm even in low-end household locks is the simpler yet much more secure disc-tumbler type [2]. this has to do with the fact that abloy company which developed this type of lock back in 1907 is a finnish one [3].

the disc tumbler lock doesn’t have any springs and so can’t be bumped. also the keys are much harder to duplicate, especially the newer ones.

a fun thing that i didn’t now before is that medeco is nowadays owned by assa abloy, yet the company markets the less secure offerings of their lineup for high-security customers.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin_tumbler_lock
[2] http://www.abloyusa.com/operating_principles.htm
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABLOY

@hum4n I’m sorry to have bothered you. I wasn’t trying to sound clever. I’ve encountered the phrase “pet peeve” in exactly that context many times, probably more than I’ve encountered the words in other contexts, I don’t see how there’s anything wrong with that. It’s also odd that you say it’s cliche while also saying you’ve never heard it, the 2 are mutually exclusive. Now that that’s over with, on to substantive discussion.

@john: 30 bit crypto based passive transponders have been working for the automotive industry for decades. The only thing close to it being attacked in the wild was an algorithmic approach with an array of fpgas and proprietary code by some university researchers. It’s a real time response system between the key and the ASIC in the ECM or BCM of the car, here the asic would be in the door unit.

It’s been done by GM with resistors. Honda actually used them in the prelude in the mid 90s and they never failed.

Abloy products are indeed brilliant, but not so competitively priced in the USA. Given the fact that many hardware pieces require modification to enable abloy cylinders to fit, adds significantly to the end users costs.

The only 100% guaranteed bump proof pin tumbler on the market is Bilock. It is competitively priced, aesthetically pleasing, fits broad ranges of existing hardware negating the need to replace hardware. Effectively reducing the end users cost.

How many of you people who are standing blindly and gloating about Mark Tobias claims about picking Medeco locks, are actual skilled, knowledgeable licensed Locksmith with any real work related experience. Making ridiculous claims about lock picking on videos is not real work related experience. Having graduated on the top of my class from New Jersey School of Locksmithing and worked five years in the field of Institutional Locksmithing. I know facts from fiction, and reading peoples’ (novices) responds to Tobias’s claims makes me smile a little bit. How many breakings have you heard about where sophisticated thieves by passed Medeco locks? Or Tobias is the only one here with brain. Sure let’s knock Medeco; but wait we can offer you a better high security lock that is better. How is Mark Tobias employed by? How is financing all these web sites where Tobias is connected? Has anybody ever witness Tobias opening Medeco locks on somebody’s door. I watched some of Tobias videos and what I find interesting that they did not insert and turn the original key in side of the Medeco cylinder (“before picking”) to let us know that it is actually pinned up. Then they should’ve inserted a key with the same keyway with different cuts showing that the wrong key is not turning the plug. Just to see that there are actual pins inside the plug. Or how about inviting us Professional Locksmiths to these events and let us pin up the Medeco cylinders and cut keys any combinations we choose to. PC it is very easy to pick any lock with only a couple of pins inside. I understand that some of you will be offended by what I’m saying but it is very hard to reason when people don’t even know what they don’t know about what they’re making claims. Locksmithing is not something that you can become proficient of by surfing the web no matter how long you’ve been blogging. How many of you dumped the inside of a mortise lock and put it back together in a half lit damp and cold hallway sitting on the side of the stairs while people walking by and your phone is ringing off the hook in about three minutes? On my web site I will offer any body hundred dollars that can pick open a Medeco lock located on one of my customer’s property in fifteen minutes or less. Then it will be recorded on a digital video camera so editing is going to be impossible without obvious forensic evidence. Good luck every one and good night.