Software to make duplicate house keys from photos
Stefan Savage, a UC San Diego computer science professor, has developed software that can clone house keys from photos.
Quick -- somebody tell these Flickr users to hide their keychain photos!House keys can be cloned from photos taken on normal mobile phones, and even from shots taken over distances of hundreds of feet.
The images are scanned by a digital imaging programme that copies the exact contours of a key to create working duplicates, no matter the angle or distance at which the photos were taken.
Although the software has been developed by university researchers who have pledged not to release the code, they warned that it would not be difficult for technology-savvy criminal gangs to make similar applications.
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pssst someone tell this guy ass well:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorow/2967395806/
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You know considering that standard house keys are just made up of a 5 pin system with a 0-9 depth, this really shouldn't be that hard.
Of course I'm not sure I see the point anyway....
A good crook is:
A. either going to be able to pick my lock
B. pry bar my door open
C. smash a window and walk in
and to point D:
most of the time when I have a key "copied" it only works vaguely well...
It's always been true, you have a better chance of finding an honest guard than building an unpickable lock.
To use a cloned key, you're also going to have to know where the person lives and which lock the key is for. As part of a university prank, I copied a friend's whole keyring. Finding the right one for their lab was a long and obviously illicit process.
I once had a dream -- therefore this isn't actually true -- that:
A friend of mine once managed to make a working copy of a key (his key) from a photograph. I thought it was pretty bamf at the time.
Who needs yer fancy app? As bcsizemo pointed out, keys are not freeform, but rather have a predetermined number of hills/valleys in a limited range of predetermined heights/depths.
Therefore, it's trivial to make a duplicate key simply by eyeballing a photo of the original.
For extra fun in this regard, Google images of "master key".
Once more into the realm of "just because we can, doesn't mean we should."
Why go to all that trouble when you can just pick the lock? Even for a beginner, a 7-pin lock usually takes 5 minutes or so. Less time, energy, and materials required.
This is fun (and I've often wondered why key-duplicating machines can't work off of a scanner, or a fax), but lock-picking is so easy that it's not really an additional threat.
I think the certification test for burglars has a question something like this:
Q: Can you open a lock without the key?
A. No -- Pass. Report to the crack booth for your prize.
B. Yes -- Fail! You qualify for a real job, possibly as a locksmith or computer scientist.
KWILLETS: Indeed. the irony is that if you are capable of using Mathematica at a level that allows you to replicate this feat, you probably have valuable bankable skills that would net you much more than fencing three home's worth of Nintendo Wiis.
"Once more into the realm of 'just because we can, doesn't mean we should.'"
True. But just because we don't doesn't mean we shouldn't know how.
Can anyone recommend a decent book on the evolution of lock designs? I've seen pictures of a few very old (late Roman?) keys and locks, which were really cool. If nothing else, I'm fascinated by the idea that the basic technology doesn't seem to have changed since the introduction of the Yale lock, and that the Chubb lock is still basically the design from centuries ago.
(Yes, I'm a geek. Geek Pride!)
Unusual Suspect (11)
Nicely phrased!
They can copy a key "no matter the angle or distance at which the photos were taken"? What utter cobblers.
A local supermarket chain have given up on using standard-sized customer loyalty cards, and now use these little postage-stamp sized plastic cards you slip onto your key ring.
So to scan, you have to hand the clerk your keys, which are sometimes really dirty things, and she swipes them across her bar-code scanner (where edible food is passed). At the same time, there's a camera snapping pics of your keychain.
The bigger issue is: When will we get rid of keys altogether and move to some universal electronic fob, even implanted devices?
Stefan gave me my very set of locksmithing tools. I miss you much, old friend, was so happy to see your name here.
Didn't we already know this?
The bump key and the corresponding practice of
Lock Bumping make tumbler locks a polite fiction and lock picking obsolete.
This article is a cute application for math and a nice headline, but utterly irrelevant.
The metaphorical concept called "The Gordian Knot" is applicable here. A complex system can be handled in complex ways. Or a simpler handling applied properly works in the end. Balancing threat Vs reality. GM made a system of security enhancement where a resistor was "potted" in the key. That ancestor of the transponder keys was cost Vs "Security level" rather effective and would ruin the day of someone trying optical key replications. The metallic key has a place for "often good enough" security. absent electronic or magnetic enhancements a mechanical key inherently is copyable by one means or another. Combining factors such as mechanical plus magnetic plus electronic is a balancing act of reliability-cost-security.
We're back to the engineering 2of3 joke. Slightly rephrased as: "Secure- reliable- affordable, choose any 2."
THE_UNUSUAL_SUSPECT: You are right that using the knowledge of discrete cut-depths for keys significantly reduces the complexity of creating 'optical copies' of keys - the software developed by the UC San Diego researchers makes use of this. The authors acknowledge that trained locksmiths, or others, who have a lot of experience with keys and locks can do this by sight. However, the researchers argue that this sort of software makes it easy for untrained individuals to do this. In fact, the method could be used to make an exact replica of an 'analog' key with arbitrary cut-depths as well since it is just an application of photo-metric calibration. Additionally, although this threat may be appreciated by those who follow security and the associated threats - it is not obvious to the average citizen - witness the photos of keys on flickr. Finally, from a more philosophical standpoint it is interesting to note that this is an example of a digital security threat running over into the physical, analog world that applies to devices that are not connected to computers in any way.
JONROCK: Indeed a flavor of this thing has been done and publicized with the Diebold voting machine and the authors acknowledged this in the references of their paper. The difference is in terms of ease-of-replication. In the case of the Diebold voting machine key someone had to eyeball the photo, translate this to measurements, and cut the key by hand. In the case of SNEAKEY, the 'eyeballing' reduces to clicking a few points on the image with a mouse and the cutting is reduced to typing a 5 or 6 digit biting code into a machine.
EYESPY GUY: From an intruder standpoint, key bumping requires less knowledge of the victim (i.e. you don't need an image of the key) and less work in producing the key. However, although fast to perform, key bumping still may appear as 'breaking in' to an onlooker while an intruder who has a replica of the key would of course appear more normal. Key bumping also leaves forensic evidence on the pin and tumbler of the compromised lock.
BUGS: "The Complete Book of Locks and Locksmithing" by B. Phillips offers a good overview of many modern day lock-and-key designs. This was referenced in the original paper for this project. For more info and related work you can read the paper available at:
http://vision.ucsd.edu/~blaxton/sneakey.html