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by swighton 1520 days ago
Glad you enjoy my locks :) Making locks is very interesting, but it reminds me of why they say you shouldn't write your own encryption. Even if the theory is sound, it just takes one little mistake for someone to bypass all your grand designs...
4 comments
skazazes 1520 days ago
Shane, heartfelt thanks for what you are doing. Having spent a large portion of my career in early childhood STEM education, 'edutainment' is the best means I have come across to communicate complex topics while capturing attention of youth. You are in my personal 'Top 5' and your content is now my go to recommendation to friends/parents.

P.S. I used to work as a retail educator at MakerBot, while you were with FormLabs. SLA always blew my FDM centric mind

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blenderdt 1520 days ago
I think you proved it's great to write your own encryption because your will learn a ton of new stuff ;)

But yes, don't use it in production before the LockPickingLawyer took a look at it.

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Terry_Roll 1519 days ago
So as you make locks, why dont magnetic keys that repel pins get used to make it harder to pick a lock?

After all how would lock picking lawyer measure the magnetic strength of the pins?

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_abox 1519 days ago
The pins would have to be fairly far apart to not be affected by each others' magnets I think. Also, this would be pretty easy to 'brute force' with a special key with some electromagnet coils. With physical tumblers this is much harder to do, work all the small moving parts (though I believe such tools are now also possible)

After all, even a physical lock is just a combination lock. The combination is just 'encoded' in a metal strip. Or in the above case, with magnets. And it's still possible to copy the key by reading it.

Better to use a digital key with asymmetric encryption. Using that you can prove you have a private key without actually giving up the information needed to fabricate a copy.

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Terry_Roll 1519 days ago
> Better to use a digital key with asymmetric encryption. Maybe these could be used in the locks considering their lifespan. https://www.bristol.ac.uk/cabot/what-we-do/diamond-batteries...
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endiangroup 1520 days ago
AD: and here I was about to appeal to HN to get this article over to you! Hope it inspires another version, you had some wonderful novel concepts in your lock(s).
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