Posted: 10/12/2008 3:24:45 PM EDT
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Not that criminal behavior is anything to be admired or emulated, but when I was a kid, I always thought it would be cool to be a safe cracker (or cat burgler or counterfeiter... hell...it's still cool). This guy is pretty amazing at it (he's an honest one though)... technofart.com/index.php/2007/01/20/world-safecracking-champion-takes-down-bank-vault-in-5-minutes-19-seconds-video |
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I worked at a good locksmith shop for a year. Out of all 5 shops and a ton of guys with experience. There was one guy that could manipulate a safe open by just playing with it. Not every time mind you. It also took a while. Most highdollar safes have glass re-lockers and the drill points on them vary from safe to safe. You have to call the manufacturer and give them the serial # to get teh drill points. If you drill and break the glass re-locker , that puppy is locked down. |
Exactly true. You may slow a thief down (with locks & such), or embarass him (with an alarm) but you won't stop him... IF the payoff is enough. |
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www.lockpicking101.com <--This is a site for LEGAL locksport information. Lockpicking is now a 'sport'. As long as you use your own locks of course! It's a pretty popular pastime amongst physics grad students I know. One way of emulating Feynman I suppose. My favorite one to show people is how to open a cheap padlock with an aluminum pop can. |
Feynman didnt crack locks. He used social engineering to get the combos. |
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Once I needed to accompany gas company employees into a bunch of businesses to check for pockets of gas after a main break. They had a local locksmith open all the doors and on 90% of them I don't think I would be any faster with a key. It was scary and cool at the same time. Joe |
Not exactly. He figured out that he could determine a couple of properties of the combination so long as the safe was open already. He figured out that with those properties, he could narrow the range of possible combination to the point that he could find the true combination in just a couple of minutes. The social engineering aspect though...standing there, talking to someone, fiddling "idly" with the dial on the safe... |
He knew that people refused to memorize the combos, so he would look around their office for numbers a old notes in their desks. |
A friend of mine picks locks , I've tried to and gotten lucky once or twice myself . There are ways to make a cheap lockset harder to pick , but it requires setting up the tumblers yourself , and it still only marginally slows down a pro. I agree watching a pro go to work is scary. As far as safe cracking goes , the lesser models can be opened by mathmatic formula. If you really think there are 60 some positions on the dial your generally wrong.
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One of our old dispatchers and a boyfriend had a falling out. She called the local locksmith to have him change the locks. Let me stop and say that our locksmith has been convicted of homicide. He supposedly killed his wife (I don't buy it, but meh). He has served his time in prison. Guy looks kinda creepy. Anyhow, She calls him up to have him come out and change the locks. He says I can be there Tue at 3:00PM. Nope, doesn't work for her she has to work. He replies "Oh, don't worry...I can just let my self in to change the locks and drop off a new key at the SO when I'm done" She flipped out. 
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I also like to pick locks for fun... I keep a set of lockpicks with me just about everywhere I go in my backpack. If I go into stores/businesses I generally leave the backpack in the trunk of my car, but if I go anywhere in my day-to-day commute, they're with me all the time. I've actually found it to be a very beneficial skill to have!!! I've used it to pick many locks over time... Neighbor having trouble getting into his shed in the back yard - pick it. Co-worker lost the key to his file cabinet - pick it. Locked the keys in my 1985 Oldsmobile - pick it. Helped me out several times! I don't go to any 'picking/cracking' parties or anything like that. But I do buy a bunch of different padlocks, door locks, and other stuff, and whenever I'm stuck watching a boring movie or a chick flick with my wife, I can still watch the movie, while I'm picking the lock (entirely by 'Feel'), and after a while, I can get really good at certain brands/styles/models of locks. The movie tends to act as 'background noise' so if I ever need to pick a lock, I can do it even with some external distractions. |
Just about any pad lock is useless if you have a couple of pipe wrenches. You can shoot one, try and cut the shackle, pound it with a hammer. It might pop open but with a lot of effort. Just twist the shackle about 90 degrees and it will shatter like glass. It's made to do that. A little locksmith secret.
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Andy McNab wrote in one of his fictional books about using an electric toothbrush with a 1mm allen wrench epoxied to the metal shaft as an autopick. |
They work. Especially the two pipe wrenches trick... Brute Force will usually work eventually.
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Well you do go for the low hanging fruit first. He did also tinker with the locks and figure out how to narrow down the possible combinations. It wasn't all social engineering. See "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out," pp. 91-96 (in the paperback edition). |
Though I am not skilled at the art, I have fiddled with enough padlocks and locksets to at least know what I'm doing. But I won't do ANYTHING for anyone else, for any reason, and I don't publicize that I have any knowledge of locks at all. The last thing I need is for people to think of me when something turns up missing. No thanks...call a (licensed/bonded) locksmith.
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careful with those, a dick head cop could get you for criminal intent to burgle just by owning those and not being a locksmith by trade. |