FrenchKey wrote:They kind of "masterkeyed" their locks. Decreasing the number of differs and making lockpicking and other attacks statistically easier.
The impression I get is that we, as hobby pickers, tend to focus most on the pick resistance of a lock. But for a manufacturer who is concerned with marketability in general I think that pick resistance is often overshadowed by the need to restrict keyblanks to prevent unauthorized duplication, and to allow for master keying (which could be very complicated for a major installation like an office building, hospital, school, etc)
I used to manage a lab at a major US university several years ago. While I was not responsible for any locksmithing directly I did have to get involved to make sure that the proper personnel had access to the correct individual rooms within our facility, and I worked with the university's locksmiths on many occasions. I also had to deal with any security concerns we had. Over the roughly 10 years I had that position I never once encountered a problem with someone picking a lock. On the other hand, issues involving master keying or key control were common. If someone assigned me the job of specifying locks for that facility I would be much more concerned about unauthorized duplication and ease of master keying than I would pick resistance. I imagine the same is true for many if not most industrial or commercial lock installs.
