With apologies to all, everyone is missing the point, including the author. Spoiler/tl;dr summary of this comment: Soon you will be able to generate a key whil

With apologies to all, everyone is missing the point, including the author. Spoiler/tl;dr summary of this comment: Soon you will be able to generate a key while standing at the lock, scanning it with the laser scanner built into your mobile device, generating the key with a hand-held 3D printer you bought at the convenience store on the corner. OK, longer version. A number of comments dismiss the security threat as not particularly meaningful (give someone your keys, give them an opportunity to mess you up) and they are correct insofar as this very specific threat is concerned. It really is very similar to the traditional "give someone your credit card, they can mess you up" threat. But think about that threat for a moment: The reality of that threat led to chip-and-pin cards, to CCVs, and to PCI compliance. That threat was also greatly magnified by the move from the pen-and-paper world to the world of online shopping - and we've had to adjust our threat mitigation strategies appropriately. The point of the article isn't actually for example that valets require great trust. The author actually misses the real point while describing it quite clearly: It has always been possible to do this, it's just orders of magnitude easier, and cheaper, to do it today, because of the blend of off-the-shelf widely available low-tech technology. That's the point of mentioning KeyMe: It is so easy to build the bits to do this threat that there are reliable commercial services that make money from low-cost apps and unattended kiosks. And it is going to get much, much, much, much worse, very, very, very soon. Very soon now you will be able to buy a pocket or at worst back-pack size multifunction replication device, that is, a 3D printer with a scanner built-in, or perhaps a 3D printer that uses your mobile device as a scanner. With that device, you will be able to duplicate the keys on the way up the stairs. And soon you will be able to use a commercial hand-held 3D printer with a commercial hand-held laser scanner to generate a key by scanning the lock. That's just the beginning of tomorrow's threat model. EDIT: Added a missing word above, and the following thought.... We assess attackers based on motivation and resourcefulness: a motivated, resourceful attacker is always a worry. The key duplication threat used to require a motivated attacker capable to acquiring resources, e.g., the prisoner, who would duplicate a key slowly and laboriously, using low-tech tools. This is a very motivated attacker. Existing and emerging technologies make the resources widely available and lower the motivation bar dramatically. The key duplication scenario will soon be populated by the equivalent of script kiddies who will perform the threat just because they can, just because it's that easy. That's the point of the article. That's the threat model we face going forward.