Peephole Security

[Fuqua]

http://www.cityoflorain.org/documents/c ... n_1018.pdf

page 3.

passed unanimously

[MacGyver101]

I'm not going to get too far into a bypass discussion in the open forums... but there are at least two major suppliers I can think of (who sell to the public) that offer articulated tools that are designed to be fed through a removed peephole in order to manipulate the latch and unlock the door.

Granted, the models I've seen are most useful on European-style lever sets, the price-point is beyond the range of a small-time thief, and they don't look like they'd make for an easily-concealable B&E tool... but "through the peephole" bypass tools aren't just some idea floated at a hacker conference: they're an actual product.

[mcm757207]

Alright now everyone play nice... if he wants his apartment to be like Fort Knox why should that bother us?

Here are some "commercial" door viewers which may be harder to remove:

http://www.davstarsecurity.com/Sdoorviewers.htm

To prevent complete removal or insertion of tools, perhaps install a piece of Plexiglas on the interior of the door, secured with screws directly to the the door? Even if the outside half is removed, the inside will remain in place and the Plexiglas will deter tools being inserted to the interior. I suppose some kind of shield could be installed around the deadbolt/thumbturn as well, which would make it difficult to manipulate even if some tool could reach it. Also, maybe the thumbturn could be modified or a new one created which was perfectly round? This would make it hard to "grab" onto to unlock.

Let us know how it turns out!

[Klaiviel]

Alright now everyone play nice... if he wants his apartment to be like Fort Knox why should that bother us?

Here are some "commercial" door viewers which may be harder to remove:

http://www.davstarsecurity.com/Sdoorviewers.htm

To prevent complete removal or insertion of tools, perhaps install a piece of Plexiglas on the interior of the door, secured with screws directly to the the door? Even if the outside half is removed, the inside will remain in place and the Plexiglas will deter tools being inserted to the interior. I suppose some kind of shield could be installed around the deadbolt/thumbturn as well, which would make it difficult to manipulate even if some tool could reach it. Also, maybe the thumbturn could be modified or a new one created which was perfectly round? This would make it hard to "grab" onto to unlock.

Let us know how it turns out!

You have some very interesting ideas. I'll see your plexiglas and raise you lexan; I have a ton of it left from a different project, I could try to make a cover for the peephole or something like that. I really like your round thumbturn idea I am going to see if I can make something like that. Thanks for the ideas.

[raimundo]

back in the day when you could find all sorts of interesting stuff in military surplus stores, (they arent what they used to be.)
you could get the prismatic periscopes made for sherman tanks so you could look out and any bullets coming in would be in a different place from where you are looking into the periscope.
These days though, small pinhole video cameras would be the way to go. you could look out the door with out going to the door.
If I were going to install one of these I would not put it in the door but place it high up on the door frame looking down and accross the door from the hinge side, making it as inconspicuos as possible. look into quarter inch bullet cameras from ELMO or some such place.