new zephyr lock

[md]

Hi, All,

I'm a junior and we have new locks with the name zephyr lock on the knob. My girlfriend owns the locker I had last year, and her combination is the same as mine, except 6 lower. I don't want to give out her combination, but let's say it was 10-10-10 when I had it last year, and now its 4-4-4. I thought that was funny, but then some of us guys tried opening our old lockers using this, and it worked every time.

Is this some kinda back-door code or something? Are all the locks the same? They all have different combinations, so I don't think they are. Anybody else have these kind of locks?

Thx, MD.

[digital_blue]

My guess would be that these are user-changeable and that was decided by the administration. If this is the case, it's a fine example of security by obscurity and you should probably let them know. If you figured it out, it's only a matter of time before the greasy losers figure it out too and start stealing your stuff.

db

[md]

db,

I don't know what you mean by user-changeable. The office gave us combinations on first day of class.

It just seems to me that if they think that changing the numbers when they give us new lockers is going to keep us out of our old lockers, their wrong. I'm not going to rip off my gf locker, but i don't know what everyone else who figures this out is going to do.

Maybe, someday, they'll get a clue.
md

[digital_blue]

Yeah... I still think you should let them know. Somebody out there had YOUR lock before too, right?

db

[grit1]

By "user changeable" he means that the user - the school - has the ability to set combinations with their control key. The administration sets the "algorithim" if you will of how the numbers change. Only true randomly generated combinations are truely secure, other changes can be figured out. My middle school moved the combination down 5 lockers and increased each number in the combination by 1. The counseling department was responsible for lockers in my school, and hired trustworthy students during the summer to go around with override keys and change all of the combinations each year. ~Grit.