Locks and Security News: your weekly locks and security industry newsletter
17th April 2024 Issue no. 701
Your industry news - first
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3-D printed 'Skeleton Keys' can pick locks in seconds
By Andy Greenberg
One of the hairier unintended consequences of cheap 3-D printing is that any troublemaker can duplicate a key without setting foot in a hardware store. But clever lockpickers like Jos Weyers and Christian Holler already are taking that DIY key-making trick a step further: They can 3-D print a slice of plastic or metal that opens even high-security locks in seconds, without even seeing the original key.
Weyers and Holler's trick is to 3-D print a "bump" key, which resembles a normal key but can open millions of locks with a carefully practiced rap on its head with a hammer. Using software they created called Photobump, the two engineers say it's now possible to easily bump open a wide range of locks using keys based on photographs of the locks' keyholes.
3rd September 2014