Blog Post

What are locks?

Simon Gabriel • July 30, 2016

Locks of all shapes and sizes...

What is a lock? It seems like a simple question, but we feel the need to go deeper and explain as simply as possible what a lock is. As we explain the basics of a lock, we’ll also briefly touch on why all locks can be picked. Whether it be a safe, a door lock, or a biometric lock, they can all be “picked”. Whether someone has figured out how to or not is the real question.

Locks that cannot be picked are only un-pickable till it’s done. As of now there are only a handful of locks in the world that will be in this category, but a fault is guaranteed to be found as security firms and the lock-sport communities test them, they are all found to have weaknesses, the question for each lock, which in turn will give it it’s security level, is how well is that weakness hidden. As we go into the mechanics of locks and how they work, all will be unveiled.

The point of a lock.

There are many types of locks and they are called by many different names, but at the end of the day they are all the same. They all have two functions whatever they are, to open and to lock. It needs to be able to open, without being able to open it may as well be a wall. If you can’t open the door then it’s the same as having a wall there, hence if a lock doesn’t open it’s pointless. Locks are meant to secure your property, be it cyber, residential or property, you need access to what’s behind the lock.

A lock that doesn’t provide any security by the same reasoning is the same as having a door without a lock or latch. The door is a door, but the lock isn’t really a lock as it doesn’t provide you with any safety. Simple, locks have to open and lock.

All locks need a key, a key is a very general term when you think about it. It could be a round key, a flat key, it could be a numerical code, it could be a remote and it can even be a fingerprint. From dials to passwords, keys come in all shapes and sizes; their purpose is to open the lock.

If you think about it, you even use lots of keys every day, the pattern you draw on your phone when unlocking it, the key to your front door, to your car, your email, your Facebook they all need keys.

Picking, manipulation & decoding.

We’re going to stick with manipulation for the sake of making this article easier. Picking & decoding are both kinds of manipulation. Manipulating the lock causes the lock to open by means other than the key, the lock in order to be a lock, needs to open, hence you can manipulate it. You’re bypassing the “key” and operating it by fooling the lock. With a physical lock that requires a key in order to open, you can pick it through the keyhole. There may even be methods of manipulating the lock as there are in padlocks. To open the lock via picking you need to replicate the movement and height of the key. No matter how many pins and how loose the tension on the plug needs to be a way can be found through. It can only be very difficult to replicate, not impossible as it was made in the first place. You may even need a special tool, but all can be manipulated.

This is all well and good when it comes to a physical key, what about a code, signal or even a card (the card having a non physical key in it). Well the manipulation is in the hack, the override or a bypass. It’s designed to open when coupled with the correct key, hence it can be manipulated to be opened.

When it comes down to it, locks come in all shapes and forms. They are all a sort of mechanism (internal moving parts, kinetic energy) designed to open and lock.

In our next blog post we’ll be talking about how it is exactly that Phyiscal locking mechanism can be manipulated.

Call your local locksmith for more information and to manipulate your lock if you need.

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