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Over the years Han Fey and myself have seen many solutions to the
bumping problem. Sometimes the lock companies engineers came up with a
good solution, sometimes they failed miserably.

I am not sure in what category ‘pickbuster’ belongs. Looking online
and on their website, their solution sounds a little bit too good to be true :

Lock Bumping – The Solution

Almore Ltd has developed a radical solution to this threat, which
renders any existing cylinder far less susceptible to this Method Of
Entry. This is done without replacement, leaving the existing cylinder
and keys in place whilst acting to greatly increase the effort
required to access the cylinder.

Applied in a solvent carrier, PICKBUSTER is non–toxic and provides
excellent long term corrosion resistance. A single application will
provide protection for the life of the cylinder.
—

Today I have received two ‘shot’ of pickbuster and will give it a try
over the weekend. Needless to say I will shoot some video of the test…

I am glad to see so many people responded to my request for information about
the ‘pandora box’. The best lead was came by Jason Jones. He found a similar box
for sale on antiqenet.com … Price : $17,500.00 USD!

There is a lot of info on the antiquenet site about it:

Description: A rare French antique iron clad three key strong box. Makers mark Brevete – Magaud de Charf – Marseille Oak frame, clad with iron plates and thicker 2-3 mm iron strap reinforcements. The round bosses are fasteners, large steel rivets found on all sides. The interior has iron sheeting formed to cover the frame. Oak sorting shelves finish the inside. – All three keys, latches and mechanicals fully operational. Opening instructions documented and illustrated.

Antique Decorative Objects
Antique Decorative Items
Decorative Antiques
See our store in Denver.
Status: Sold Reference#: DF7_101
Condition: fine Year: 17th century
Country: France
Height: 39 in. (99.06 cm) Depth: 20.5 in. (52.07 cm)
Width: 28.25 in. (71.75 cm)

The nice thing about the antiquenet.com add is it contains some very high detailed
images of the keys. Enough to give us an idea what to expect and what it is going
to take to open it. The next challenge is to find blanks this size to modify ….

Maybe we will see the box in real life this wednesday. To be continued…

Besides lots of press inquiries we also are swamped with people who want us to open locks for them. For example, yesterday at the Amsterdam Toool meeting someone showed up bringing a 1984 payphone without keys. And yes, we did manage to open it.

The latest challenge came by mail. It is a big box that contains three locks. The text accompanying the images was: “I have an old trunk/coffin/strong box which comes from Damascus, probably modern (second half of XX century). It has three key holes (traditional keys) but all of them missing. Do you think there is anything that could be done to open it? We have much interest in doing that.”

Looking at the images I think this is not a box with three locks, but a so called ’trick lock box’. My guess is you need to move one of the round knobs, or stick in a small pin trough a crack to either open the box or reveal the real keyway. But we only know when we visit this person and take a close look at the box personally.

So far we do not know more about the box, but maybe one of the blackbag readers knows this box or has some advice?

To be continued …

Just one week ago we finally updated the new Toool 2006/2007
competition webpage. It always takes Paul Boven lots of time and
energy to shoot high detailed images of these locks, and make a nice
web interface where you can see the scores. But he did it and the
results are online.

I like to welcome everyone to take a look at his artwork and click on
the names of the locks to see the detailed high-res images, and opening times…
This year we received quite a number of locks from abroad. Take for
example the Israeli 5-5, Mul-T, Nabob, Peled, Uniferro and Yardeni
locks, or the Corbin from Belgium, or Spanish CVL lock.

After a few rounds of competing, some of the more difficult locks
already stand out. So far nobody has been able to pick the three DOM
locks in this years competition (standard, System D and IX 6SR), as
well as the Mul-T-Lock interactive and the Norwegian Trioving lock.

Last year non of the 26 locks remained closed after one year of
picking, and the year before that only one lock survived.

I am curious how it will turn out this year ….

If you are wondering why I was a little slow with blackbag, it is
because I was busy preparing for the CeBit conference in Hannover.

CeBit is the biggest consumer electronics tradeshow on the planet. And
ever since we came to the market we have had a booth there, and every
time it has been a little stressful to complete the demo models for the booth.

It is hard work at the booth, and I make many hours, but luckily there
are some circumstances that make life bearable …

Feel free to drop by at our booth in hall 7 booth D22 for a cup of coffee ….

Mul-T-Lock’s MT5 …

It promises to be a pretty secure lock. Besides having the famous ‘pin
in pin’ (or telescopic pin) system, there is an interactive element
in the key. This interactive element is merely a copy protection
mechanism if you ask me. The third security feature is a ‘laser track’
type grove. The pins (called fingerpins) that are set with this grove
operate a sidebar. I must say it looks pretty solid.

I can’t wait to get my hands on two or three of these locks.

You might wonder why I want two or three locks, and not just start
with one?

The answer is simple: I am curious if all locks will have their own
individual fingerpin/sidebar code. I think and hope Mul-T-Lock is
clever enough to do this, and not make the same mistake ASSA made with
the sidebar codes on the TWIN series. If each lock will have its own
individual sidebar code it will be a tough nut to crack. Based on what
info is available on the net.

One other reason to want a couple of locks is to take one or two apart
and look at all parts individually. Sometimes technical drawings (or
even complete video animations) can be pretty unclear. Before I try to
pick a lock I always collect as much information about it as possible.
And there is no better way to understand how a lock works then fully
taking it apart and let the pins and parts run through your fingers
while examining them.

Although I must admit the video animation made by Mul-T-lock does give
you a nice impression about how the lock works.

The video can be found here (WMV 3 MB) … pretty informative if you ask me.

My pickset is itching to have a try at this lock. The name MT5 has
been released months ago, yet I am still waiting to see it available
in the shops.

More on the MT5 when it is available on the market … or do you think
they will send me some samples to review?

to be continued…

The Editie NL video is available now …

http://blackbag.toool.nl/video/editie-nl.wmv (10 Mb)

Or on youtube (for those having problems with WMV files)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_Re5GOARjc

Those were my words when someone pointed me to the new and improved
website of multipick in Germany. Previously they offered a set of 10
or 12 bumpkeys. We tested these keys in our consumer reports test in
2006, and found they were of very poor quality.

However, multipick now seems to have invested seriously in their
bumpkey division.

You can now order individual keys online, and to make things
convenient they included the images of the profiles of the keyways.

Life for criminals have never been easier … Just examine the lock
you want to open (or make a picture), compare with the profile
sketches on their website and order the correct key online.

We have not tested any of multipick’s keys yet, but looking at how serious
they invested in their website I fear for the worst….

Dutch RTL just visited me to shoot some video for a TV item about this
new site and the consequences it has for security in general. It will be
aired on RTL4 around 18:15 today in a program called ‘editie NL‘.

(Video available now, WMV 10 Mb)

I just returned from a two day trip to Germany. The German Navy invited me
for a presentation, and Han Fey was kind enough to assist me with it.

For almost three hours I did a presentation about locks and physical
security. I covered nearly every technique in the book, including safe
opening and some rather unknown NDE (Non Destructive Entry) tricks and
techniques. My opening line for the presentation was: “I apologize to
you. At the end of this presentation you will not feel comfortable
anymore, realizing the trust you put in mechanical locks in the past
was based on wrong assumptions. For real security the mechanical lock
is a lost battle …”

It is always nice to receive compliments, and after the presentation I
received many of them. And many people confirmed to me that they indeed
see the physical security world in a completely different perspective now…

After the presentation we did two ‘hands on’ sessions. During these
session the Navy people could try picking, bumping, safe opening and
other techniques themselves. And of course play with the ‘Todesmagnet’
(magnet of death) on an older version of the Winkhaus Blue Chip lock….

Having finished this presentation and the preparations to it I now
have some more time on my hands. Time I will use to post more on this
weblog … thanks for still reading it … stay tuned for more.

(* I am recovering from the flu, will try to re-write this posting and shoot some video of it when I feel better)

Oli mailed me enthusiastically with a trick he heard from a locksmith
when I was in Barcelona.

Unfortunately it is not a trick to open an EVVA 3KS lock. I believe
the 3KS lock is one of the most decent locks ever made. Virtually
impossible to open without damaging it, hard to drill and keys that
are very secure against unauthorized duplication.

And EVVA is improving the design of this lock all the time.
The proof of that statement is at the end of this posting ….

The story that came to me was that you could add an extra layer of
‘master key’ protection to a standard 3KS lock by removing some
material of the key.

Normally you can only withdraw a working key after full rotation of the
key in the lock. However, if you remove the top layer of one side of
the key, you can remove it after 180 degree rotation. This will keep the
lock in a very odd state. The lock is still locked, yet will not allow
a non modified key entrance to the lock. Only a key that is filed flat
on one side will be allowed entrance and can open (or close) the lock
when it is in this ‘180 degree state’.

At first this might not sound like a big deal. But it is a nice way
for a store owner to lock (or open) his shop and he is the only one
that can operate the lock. Or at least it will give him the power to
deny otherwise valid keys entry to the lock. I would not call this a
bug or design error, but a nice feature.

Here are some of the pictures Oli send me:

Step 1) The EVVA 3KS lock and the modified key. Normally there is a ‘wave’

on the top and bottom of the sides of the key. But now on
one side this ‘wave’ is completely filed down.

Step 2) Key with flat filed part is inserted in the lock, flat side
facing downward. Take a close look at the black ‘follower’ that is in
the down position on this picture.

Step 3) Turn Key 180 degrees. You can see the black follower now is
aimed upwards.

Step 4) Remove key. Now the flat side is on the top side. In this
state, original, non-modified keys can not be inserted into the lock.
Only a key that is flat on one side can be inserted and operate the lock.

I was glad to receive the images from Oli and decided to shoot some
video on this subject. I took one of my new EVVA 3KS locks and started
to file away on the key. However, no matter what I tried I could not
remove my key after 180 degrees. I did try many things, yet the lock I
have can not be opened this way. So I will call my contact at EVVA
tomorrow and ask his opinion on this. My guess is they improved the
lock in the meanwhile and it is no longer possible on newer models.

I wanted to shoot some photos of the internals of a 3KS lock to show
you why there is a relief profile on the sides of the key and why this
trick works on the older generation 3KS locks. Unfortunately my
digital photo camera is not available till the end of this week. So I
could not shoot the images yet. Will do so at the end of the week.

To be continued …