Possible Bump Key Attack

[mattc]

As a few of you may be aware, I work in a hospital and have noticed something potentially worrying and was hoping someone may be able to allay my concerns. Walking to a vending machine a couple of nights ago, idly looking at locks as I sometimes do, I noticed one of the "Yale" style locks had a dent directly above the keyway. Having read much of the "Bumping" literature available, and bumped a few locks myself, the dent resembled that of a lock which has been bumped.

Can anyone tell me if there any other means by which a lock could acquire such a distinctive mark; it looks like it's been bumped but I don't want to cause a panic if I'm wrong.

I will post pictures if needed, when I can get my digital camera to where I work (camera phone doesn't take a good enough close up).

Many thanks.

[melvin2001]

its possible someone was bumping it. a question i would ask is "why would someone bump this lock".

lets say that door is a closet door that is normally locked during the day, that door may be bumped because during the day anyone could walk by and try and get in it.

on the other hand if its a door thats normally open during the day but locked at night and doesn't really lock anything special up, then i suppose its likelyhood of being bumped is less.

that being said a dent above the keyway is not proof of bumping, that can be a sign of normal wear and tear. if it is a highly sensitive area, and the dents formed overnight you may have a problem.

[unbreakable]

I actually have a Yale that looks like that myself, it is one of the older non brass type....

I think if someone jammed a key in hard enough time after time, there's no reason they couldn't leave a mark similar to that left by a bump key.

[n2oah]

Yes, I've seen plenty of locks that haven't been bumped but they still have a huge indent from the shoulder.

[fsdhy]

99.9% that its from normal wear. that is a pretty common wear pattern for a plug that experiences a fair amount of use, or is old. especially if people are closing the door by pushing on the key (depending on what kind of knob it is). today, a guy brought me in a cylinder from the main entrance to a retirement community, it was only 2 years old but the wards were completely gone and it had a huge dent on the front. it was worn so fast because the old timers have a habit of opening the door by pulling on the key. when I removed the plug and tried putting a key in it, it would fall right out the bottom.

its highly unlikely that the lock was bumped. if you went around looking at a variety of locks, you'd quickly learn that there are a large amount of plugs with an indentation above the keyway, and none of them have ever been bumped...

[mattc]

Thanks for the replies. I can't say how long the dent's been there, only that I just noticed it. I thought it was unlikely that it'd been bumped, which was why I brought it up here first.

[devildog]

Yes, I've seen plenty of locks that haven't been bumped but they still have a huge indent from the shoulder.

Yes, same here, I agree. I've heard a lot of people trying to say that a mark from the shoulder above the keyway is indicative of bumping, and it just isn't unless it's extraordinarily pronounced.