The Security Mentor

I just went to a security conference, where among other things a Boeing security expert named Keith Turpin demonstrated attacks on physical locks.

In case you haven't been following the news, it takes only a little skill to open a normal lock without a key in seconds. He ran through a set of padlocks, door locks and luggage locks. The combination padlock he opened faster than I could have opened it with the combination. Basically, if you paid less than three figures for the lock on your front door, it's just a speed bump to someone willing to invest time in a little practice.

Which was already fun to watch, when someone dropped by and said "That's a really good bump key". Turns out he was one of the experts on the subject.

Which gave me a chance to ask a question that's been on my mind.

Earlier this year an attorney and lock expert named Marc Weber Tobias disclosed a way to attack high-security locks from Medeco. This caught my attention because that's what I have on my front door. In August, Medeco was reported to be making some design changes to address the problem. I've been wondering whether those changes have made it out to retail locksmiths yet. I made the mistake of asking my locksmith about that.

My locksmith, despite three attempts on my part on my part to explain that Medeco was aware of a problem and had made a design change to fix it, gave me an endless (and in my opinion patronizing) lecture about the security features of a Medeco, things that I had known before I bought one.

The expert at the security conference was able to give me an instant answer to the question my former locksmith had failed to address. It turns out that if you buy one of the Medecos that's available at retail today, you are in his words "golden".