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> It's quite entertaining to see how little security you actually get from most locks. Physical locks are for honest people. They signify that something is not
by koolba 1y ago
> It's quite entertaining to see how little security you actually get from most locks.
Physical locks are for honest people. They signify that something is not meant to be accessed and at best slow down someone actively trying to access the other side of the lock.
- amarant 1y agoThey're also effective against incompetent thieves. Anecdotally that's a pretty high percentage of thieves you'll ward off that way.
- svachalek 1y agoExactly. There's a lot of strongly worded stuff in here about how easy locks are to defeat, but that's only against someone who's practiced the art, which is a very small percentage of the population. And in my experience they're mostly honest people interested in the technical challenge, rather than criminal exploitation. A typical modern lock is going to massively slow down or outright stop nearly everyone who comes up against it.
- jopsen 1y agoYeah, moar burglars aren't the kind who spend 10000 hours honing their skills. People with that kind of dedication can often find gainful employment :)
- mrweasel 1y agoI recall either "The lock picking lawyer" or McNally explains that only in 3% of cases are locks picked during a burglary. In all other cases windows or doors are simply forced open. So at best locks are meant to prevent of crimes of opportunities.
- Forgeties79 1y agoYeah my understanding of burgling is it’s all about speed. One of the best deterrents you can have is I think called “laminate glass,”that doesn’t shatter into a bunch of pieces when it’s hit. It has a tendency to hold together so they have to spend precious seconds knocking out more of it which almost always makes them run away rather than risk it. If I can go out on a limb here, I also think I recall that they have very specific things they look for. For instance they will often run straight for the master bedroom and start pulling out drawers/checking closets because people tend to keep jewelry in there. They want small items. Anything that slows them down tends to deter them even if they make an initial attempt
- eurleif 1y agoImpact glass is one option. Another option is to have security film installed on your existing windows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_APQ3CzQno https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_APQ3CzQno
- Forgeties79 1y agoSecurity film! That’s the one I was trying to find it first but then I found laminate glass and assumed I was mistaken.
- ErroneousBosh 1y agoYou know those super secure double-glazed front doors, with the kind of hook things that engage when you push the handle up? You can spudger one of the glass units out and back in from the outside, without leaving a mark. They look better than they are.
- georgefrowny 1y agoMost uPVC windows and doors should have the beads on the inside and a solid profile on the outside. I have heard of someone cutting through all the plastic and pulling the glass out that way, though. Both rather more obvious that surreptitiously jiggling the obscenely crappy Eurocylinder that the door came with.
- fc417fc802 1y ago> at best locks are meant to prevent of crimes of opportunities A lock forces the thief to either spend time defeating it or physically break something. Even if it doesn't slow him down it should hopefully make it visibly obvious that he's doing something illicit.
- drew870mitchell 1y agoIIRC there's a legal distinction between mere unauthorized entry and unauthorized entry that involves circumventing any kind of lock
- paradox460 1y agoThis is why the complaint about smart locks being hacked is so utterly ridiculous to me. A thief isn't going to hack your lock, they're going to bash a window in
- TylerE 1y agoSmart locks potentially give access to things that windows don't, like upper floor apartments.
- upboundspiral 1y agoEven if I can unlock a hypothetical 90% of physical locks, I still need to go in person to every house that has one. On the other hand, if I crack one smart lock I now have remote access to every home that has one, and I can operate on all of them simultaneously. Anything internet-connected makes doing damaging things at scale much easier.
- linsomniac 1y agoOne day I came into the office and noticed that one of our neighbors doors had a triangular hole cut into it near the door handle. It was a solid core door on an interior hallway. One of our cameras picked up the sound, someone brought a chainsaw and in about 30 seconds cut a hole in the door so they could reach through and open it from the inside. They took the safe, but I was told the safe was empty. Oddly, this is a case where they would have had plenty of time to pick the lock as well, and it would have been much quieter.
- FridayoLeary 1y agoDon't know why you are being downvoted because it's true. Lots of people wouldn't try to break past a lock but if you leave a door open many people would fall for the temptation.
- tim333 1y agoIt requires a fair amount of skill to pick a lock quickly. Someone capable could probably make more money doing something legit.
- georgefrowny 1y agoHaving heard of a typical locksmith's rates, if you can pick locks well then you really, really do not need to resort to burglary.
- sgerenser 1y agoYeah, like running a Youtube channel on lock picking.
- taneq 1y agoOr like being a lawyer?
- rererereferred 1y agoOr both :)
- pbhjpbhj 1y agoDepends, do you count wave-raking as picking? I bought a cheap lock-picking set, takes me about 5 minutes to get their basic perspex lock open. "Masterlock", wave rake opens it in a few seconds -- even my then 10yo could open it in <30s.
- dgacmu 1y agoI think that it's more useful to think of all defenses against physical intrusion as increasing the cost of intrusion in some way, be that time, skill, risk of being caught, access to specialized devices, etc. Most "normal" locks don't increase the cost too much but they do raise it - perhaps enough for a thief to pick another target, or perhaps enough for the thief to choose another method of entry such as kicking in the door (which itself comes with additional risk of detection).
- LogicHound 1y agoExactly it is about layers. It is the same with computer security. Is my network "unhackable" no. But I've put up enough layers of basic security that script kiddies and the like won't be able to get in.
- LogicHound 1y agoSecurity is about layers. If I have a basic lock, all I want to do is stop an opportunist. I have a vehicle that is extremely simple to steal (you can unlock everything with a screwdriver), to protect it I use both a pedal lock, a secret second key and a steering wheel lock. Will it defeat a determined thief or a team of thieves? No way. However it will put off most opportunists and slow down a more experienced thief enough that they may choose another target.
- taneq 1y agoApparently these days it’s sufficient car security simply to have a manual transmission. :D
- LogicHound 1y agoI live in the UK. Almost anyone that can drive a vehicle knows how to change gears.
- sct202 1y agoAnd even still, whenever I or a friend has hired a locksmith, they try for 5-10 minutes with no success and drill thru the lock destroying it.
- bluGill 1y agoThat is to make it look like the job is hard
- RandomBacon 1y agoOr to sell you an overpriced lock they conveniently have for sale and in stock in their vehicle.
- bluGill 1y ago> overpriced lock they conveniently have for sale and in stock in their vehicle I object to the word overpriced in this context. It costs a lot of money to keep locks, tools, and other spare parts in a vehicle (including the cost of the vehicle). If you need a lock now and they have one it should cost a lot more than if you need a lock in 6 months and can wait for the factory to get around to making it. When you call their locks overpriced you are failing to understand the costs and value of having a part on hand.
- RandomBacon 1y agoI object to locksmiths that drill out consumer-grade locks you buy from Home Depot, instead of picking them. Maybe some of them are selling normal-price locks, but people don't call a locksmith to drill out their lock when they can borrow their neighbor's drill. They either can't pick an easy lock or they're scamming people.