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Mitnick's cards have been around for several years... I got one from him at a conference in KC (where he also autographed The Art of Deception and The Art of In
by ax0n 17y ago
Mitnick's cards have been around for several years... I got one from him at a conference in KC (where he also autographed The Art of Deception and The Art of Intrusion for me). It was quite a while ago. Many others (including melvin and TOOOL) have also put together similar snap-apart credit-card lock picks. The problems are that they're too short to really get a good feel with, and they're made of crap metal that doesn't lend itself well to picking real locks.
When I'm picking locks, the pick is a long lever, and my fingertips function as the fulcrum. The other end of that lever rests neatly in the web of my thumb and forefinger, which is at least two inches away from said fulcrum. It is back there where I feel what's going on deep inside the lock, sight unseen. The length of the lever (lock pick) amplifies anything felt by the end of the pick. You just can't get that kind of feedback with lock picks that fit within the dimensions of a business card.
- hedgehog 17y agoYour technical comments are fair but here's the history: fiveish years back a friend of ours (Divide) got some metal cards and Melvin liked them but wanted something a little different. Jeni, Mel and I came up with the lock picks. Kevin's cards are a derivative with the picks shortened to fit more contact info. If you wanted to build a more robust version you could use thicker steel and replace the chemical etching with laser. I think a simple cipher machine or something like that would be a cool next step.