There was a time when only locksmiths and Harry Houdini could pick locks. Those days are over as more tools and techniques have become easily obtainable, especially on the web. A quick browsing of YouTube-type sites will find a plethora of videos explaining and teaching the fundamentals of lock picking.

The secrets are out, so what to do to best secure your home, business, storage or car?

The object of picking a lock is to fool the lock cylinder into responding to that which resembles the condition of having the correct key inserted. The cylinder turns, the lock opens!

Rather than taking the time to discuss the techniques of picking, I'd rather focus on prevention tips.

Most locks purchased at hardware stores, home centers and big box retailers are called either 'consumer grade' or 'contractor grade'. They are very basic in their construction and typically have no pick prevention engineering. When I can pick a basic lock on a house or business door within seconds, not minutes, it freaks out the owner or tenant. Their perception of a secure premises just went up in smoke.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to make it virtually impossible to have your security bypassed by non-damaging methods.

More and more manufacturers are adding a 6th pin to their cylinders to make them more difficult to pick than the old standard 5-pin locks. This should be a minimum requirement for all of your door locks. That 6th pin just adds a much greater difficulty to both rake/step picking and bump picking techniques.

More manufacturers are also adding 'spool' or 'mushroom' pins to the top of the pin stacks in their cylinders. (I think they are getting tired of being sued for having quasi-secure locks for lo these many years). This added security is not visible, so unless you ask or see the description on the package, you may never know if the lock has this feature. Spool pins are sneaky... they allow you to pick the lock 1-2 degrees in either direction, then hang you up. They bind inside the cylinder just enough to stop the pin movement and cause the picker much frustration and lost time (time is always the criminal's worst enemy). A great tip... your security technician can retrofit most door locks with spool pins. It's worth the price.

Because of the amazing success of bump-picking techniques, allowing many amateurs to easily pick locks now, manufacturers are scrambling to design bump-pick-resistant cylinders. Several major manufacturers (like Master Lock) are replacing the cylinders in their lines of products and bragging about it. Bump-picking is way too easy and makes nearly everyone vulnerable.

Many manufacturers are offering hi-security locks with all kinds of anti-pick designs built-in. They typically include at least 2 mechanical conditions that must be met inside the cylinder at the same time in order for a lock to open. Bump-picking cannot meet both (or more) conditions at the same time and rake/step picking won't either. Neither will pick guns or vibrating picks. These are the locks that I love to promote because they work! Medeco, ASSA, Schlage, Sargent, Arrow and Corbin-Russwin are just a few of the better known lock companies that offer great hi-security locks. Expensive? Oh, yeah. Worth the extra money? Sure. But look at the alternative, if you dare: easy victimization.

I should mention that the above discussion can also apply to padlocks.

As for vehicles, more folks are discovering that they cannot just walk into a hardware store and get their car keys duplicated anymore. The keys have a tiny transponder 'chip' embedded in the head of the key. The on-board computer in the car polls the chip to see if it has the authority to start the car. Some cars, like the more expensive Chryslers, Dodges and Jeeps aren't using a cut key to start the car anymore. Cadillac has been using keyless ignitions for a few years now. The keys (or fobs) must be programmed into the car's computer, so the cost of extra keys are going out of sight. And you don't want to think about losing all of your car's keys and needing new ones generated. Your wallet will scream in pain.

Yet, transponder keys work. Equipped cars cannot be hot-wired or even work with jacked-ignitions. The roll-back tow truck now seems to be the thieves choice for stealing expensive cars.

Next up... combination locks. They're not just for lockers anymore.

HEY KEYGUY

THANK you for this information

dgrimm60

What are good locks that would prevent bumping?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr23tpWX8lM

LOL

Thank you for posting that video, Doug. I'm thankful that we have a home-security system already in place, but I'd like to get some better locks installed as well.

HEY ALL

WELL I AM A GRINNIN

:-D :-D :-D


dgrimm60