5 ms·

I'm surprised there are not more digitally controlled locks on the market - something that has an embedded microcontroller that releases a solenoid if the right

• shabble 16y ago
  The big problem with digital and electronic locks in general is maintaining the power source. Mechanical locks have extremely low maintenance requirements, and could be left unattended for months or years without issue. Even if they then stick, a quick shot of WD40 will usually allow entry. Electronics, on hte other hand, rely either on external power, or some sort of internal battery. A battery is ill-suited to heavy duty-cycling when the lock will be opened/closed regularly, and an external source is potentially subject to tampering. There do exist many electronic locks, typically for fairly low-security shared access doors, or where various additional requirements make them more suited (such as easily rekeyable card-locks for hotel rooms) There's an interesting article at http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/08/electronic-locks-defeated/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/08/electronic-locks-de... regarding some work by Marc Weber Tobias and others in defeating hybrid electro-mechanical locks and their built-in audit logs. Electronic locks on the whole don't magically ensure security, and open up a whole new set of attack surfaces, whereas mechanical locks have been around for centuries, and have well-defined failure/exploitation modes.
  • sabat 16y ago
    Problem, yes. Engineering problem to solve. The real issue is that these companies don't feel they need to innovate much, and so we're still stuck with technologies invented in the 19th century.
    • jerf 16y ago
      Handwaving at a problem and declaring it's just an "engineering problem" doesn't actually do anything to solve it... hey, wait, are you my manager? The power problem is actually a big deal and shouldn't be minimized. Take the hotel situation; what happens when the hotel loses power? You can't have the locks fail closed, you end up with people trapped away from their stuff. Failing open is of course a bit of a problem, too. Locks by their nature tend to congregate around things that are actually important so you actually have some serious problems with a lock that is "down" even five minutes a year.
      • sabat 16y ago
        I'm hand-waving at it because this industry has had 40-50 years of high technology at its beck and call and has done little or nothing with it. This is an engineering problem, and making excuses for them ("Failing open is of course a bit of a problem, too") does not change the reality. They have failed to innovate, and the world is going to pay for that. The power problem? So don't use traditional power: experiment with something else. Try. They've had half a century, at least. If that industry had tried at all, it would've come up with more than this.
        • jerf 16y ago
          You deny my point, then just go on to reinforce it. The lock industry should just create a new magical power source? You just moved around the "mere engineering problem" label but if anything you've made your problem worse by being more clear about what you want to have magicked into existence, not better.
  • sliverstorm 16y ago
    Plus mechanical locks are inherently more fire-resistant!
  • sesqu 16y ago
    Back in shop class, I build a cabinet with an electronic lock. I had the presence of mind to include a hidden bypass wire and link for an external power source, but years later when I needed to open the cabinet, the electronics didn't work. That's really the only thing I've learned about electronics. Avoid reliance.
• deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
• mannkind 16y ago
  The Sunnect AP501 seems to fit the bill and seems to address some of the issues that Shabble mentions.