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> The drill-out took 5 seconds at most…

This is the far more concerning part.




This is the #1 thing they teach you in lockpicking class anyway. If you want to burgle, buy a crowbar or in this case a drill. It even doubles as a weapon, they will say jokingly. Though I imagine burglars will actually think that way.

Lockpicking is more interesting as a sport, or for legitimate purposes. For illegitimate ones it just takes too long, and its positives like being silent aren't of any benefit to robbers. And spies have better tools.

Modern door locks are full of mitigations like mushroom pins anyway. Data centre racks, office drawers, filing cabinets, those are the ones you can open in seconds because they tend to have cheap locks with really poor manufacturing tolerances. This is what makes lockpicking so interesting to pentesters.

Source: lockpicking class at security conferences (most of the defcon-style ones do them). It was really enlightening to see how hard it is to pick a good lock. And how easy to pick a crap one.

But 5 seconds is particularly bad indeed. Usually the cylinders are made of metals with different hardnesses inside to deflect a drill sideways. Brute force will still get them but 5 seconds is quick.


I have Abloy Protec2 on my front door, with optional hardened plate (product code CH101) protecting it from drilling. The key hole in the plate is just big enough for a key to go through, but not big enough to allow damage to the lock mechanism. They've thought about it.




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