If you're Kevin Mitnick or another high profile hacker, finding yourself in hand cuffs might not be something too unusual. That could be why the Last HOPE hackers convention offered sessions on lock picking and breaking out of high security hand cuffs, but it could also be because lock picking is a sport for some.
Marc Weber Tobias
Physical security specialist
And actually I've been very vocal in the media for a few years now and speaking about lock sport communities and why they should be embraced by manufacturers. And my clients that I work for have embraced them. And recently the largest high security lock in America has embraced them. It's a really great sport. It's better than chess because it's mechanical and you either win or you lose. Locks are either open or they're not open.
And for those who wanted to try their hand at lock picking they could stop by the lock picking village. There were a number of key and combination locks ready to be picked. One lock picker who just started shortly before I caught up with him was already an expert on a combination lock.
He's using a sliver of metal cut from a soda can to slide into the combination lock and push back the mechanism that is keeping the lock secure.
This combination lock, I've literally spent 15 minutes working on it, but what got me here is I was intrigued by the fact that the physical barriers that make you feel that you're protected aren't really what they make it out to be. For example this particular lock. It's a very heavy set lock and when I would go to a store I would actually pay a premium for this kind of lock because it looks very strong and heavy, but this is actually one of the easiest ones to pick so I was intrigued and curious to know how those locks can be picked and this is what led me here.
There was also a demo of lock bumping which allows for a special key that wouldn't normally work to, in fact, open the lock.
That's it and for real. That's it. It's not a trick. This is a bi-pin lock, a brand new profile cylinder and that's the key that opened it. Now admittedly, it's a special bump key for a Medico cylinder, but if you'll look, this key will not open this lock. It's a special technique where it's not the key that opens the lock. Well it's based on Sir Issac Newton from 350 years ago who is the father of bumping but he didn't' know it yet because this lock hadn't been invented. It's like when you put pool balls on a pool table and they're all stacked next to each other and you hit the left most ball and the right one moves. It's his third law of motion. For every action there will be an equal and opposite reaction. So what's happening here is that we're bouncing the pins across what's called shear line so there's no obstruction to opening the lock. The problem is it becomes vastly more complicated in a high security lock such as Medico because there are 3 independent security layers. In this lock there are two, in most of their locks there are 3. We're bypassing those security layers just like in a conventional lock.
And last but not least there was breaking out of handcuffs. While experts were on hand to break out of high security cuffs, amateurs with just a few minutes of experience were able to get out of low security ones.
John Chen
Last HOPE attendee
This is my first time. I practiced it in one hand first and as soon as I figured out how it works it only takes a few seconds. But when you do it on both hands it takes like five minutes.
Reporting from New York, I'm Nick Barber, IDG News Service.
