Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by kilo_bravo_3 2453 days ago
The video is a compelling demonstration of a design flaw, but I am always skeptical of lock opening displays that do not occur in a real-world application of the lock.

Yeah, you ramsetted a lock. In a vise. Can you do that if it is dangling from a chain between two gate halves? Or would you bring out a bench and vise to your target?

Ok, you picked a lock. In a vise. Is it easily pickable while hanging from a hasp, with a door behind it?

Ok, you drilled open a smart lock. Is the drill able to be positioned in such a manner when the lock is installed on a door?

It doesn't look like it.

After drilling, you need to insert a screwdriver and manipulate a latch.

Is drilling/manipulating faster/slower/easier/more difficult than picking, raking, ramsetting, grinding, kicking, or prying?

I like clever, but clever isn't always practical.

3 comments

> Can you do that if it is dangling from a chain between two gate halves? Or would you bring out a bench and vise to your target?

I would just mount a clamp to the front of the Ramset gun.

> Is the drill able to be positioned in such a manner when the lock is installed on a door? It doesn't look like it.

It really looks like it to me, you need to drill the front of the door.

I was particularly looking for such (in fact these) questions while going backwards through the article again, and I must say:

I don't think you have a point here. All of these steps can be easily done while the lock is on the door. There are plenty of tools availabe to drill holes this way.

Nobody said it is "faster/slower/easier/more difficult" than existing attacks. It is a valid attack, it is quick and it makes almost no noise and worse: It isn't even obvious (you need to actively search for a tiny hole, otherwise you're just assuming all is OK)

> Ok, you drilled open a smart lock. Is the drill able to be positioned in such a manner when the lock is installed on a door?

He drilled it from the front; the face is off in the picture where he's opening the latch with the screwdriver to better show where the mechanism is.

He drilled it from the side. The preview picture from the video clearly shows the entire mechanism sideways on the table.
Exactly. This has an added bonus of making it a permanent backdoor. You drill once and put black sticker on it, nobody will notice. Is there even a sensor in the lock to log being manually opened?