Common Attacks
A frequent method used to defeat locks is plain old
brute force. Smashing, cutting, or drilling into a lock via any
number of tools, most of which are available at any hard-
ware store, is often enough to tear through locks of all kinds.
These types of attacks are fairly intuitive and don’t require a
lot of specialized knowledge or tools. Smart attacks, like lock-
picking, bumping, or shimming, require some knowledge of
the inner workings of a lock that your average burglar might
not have. These types of attacks are less common, but also
much harder to prevent. Furthermore, the tools used in
these smart attacks are becoming easier to obtain. If you
want to be sure your stuff is secure, you’ll want to take these
attacks into account as well; the unfortunate reality is that
the most popular manufacturers simply aren’t.Tools of the Trade
These are some of the tools that you’ll commonly find in
a locksmith’s bag. You probably still won’t find them at your
local hardware store, but the internet has made these imple-
ments far more accessible than ever before.
Lock picks: Your basic picking set will have at least two
items: a tension wrench and a rake. The tension wrenchElectronic access control is, without a doubt, the future of frontline secu-
rity. The ability to track who’s entering a facility at any given time, and have a
digital record of this to fall back on during any type of investigation, is incred-
ibly valuable, especially to larger sites like schools, hospitals, and prisons.
Combine that with the ability to instantly initiate a lockdown situation and
the ability to quickly and easily “rekey” an entire facility, and you’d be crazy
not to want this stuff.
So, why aren’t people using this on their homes, businesses, or at the very
least, their vehicles? You might have already guessed the obvious answer — it’s
very expensive. Most of these systems require a dedicated server to man-
age the whole thing, and you have to pay a premium (usually well into the
thousands of dollars) in order to obtain the proper software and licensing to
make all of the expensive hardware communicate with your computer. Not to
mention, you’ll have to pay somebody to install a myriad of components, rang-
ing from electrified locksets, electrified strikes, gateways for wireless hardware,
request to exits, and so forth.
Running wires to power all of this stuff can be incredibly expensive as well,
especially on older buildings. Wireless technology is consistently improving
and becoming much less cost-prohibitive, but limitations will always be there
as well — it’s hard to grab a signal from behind a concrete wall. Standalone op-
tions, which are still usually more expensive than a purely mechanical system
but much cheaper than a networked one, do exist, but you lose many of the
features that make electrified hardware so appealing. Standalone electrified
locks need to be programed one by one, and will need to be individually repro-
grammed if you ever want to change someone’s access levels. You’d also be los-
ing out on the ability to quickly lock down a site in the event of an emergency
— one of the most desirable features of a networked access control system.1066 OFFGRIDWEB.COM
ISSUE 32