Anti-theft thing with dimple key...

[digital_blue]

Unpickable??? Ha! This thing is a freakin' piece of cake once you use the right tool. This thing succumbed to raking with the matador pick, foil impressioning, and bumping each within 30 seconds of the first try. Hardly my definition of unpickable. Hardly even pick resistant. And $60 US makes it almost as rediculous as buying the Kensington Microsaver.

I'll have to make an effort to find one of these in a store and have a look at the packing, cause now you've got me curious.

db

[digital_blue]

Found some stuff searching tonight:

Q: What is the difference between the Original Unbreakable AutoLock and the Unbreakable AutoLock PRO?
A: The Original Unbreakable AutoLock has a standard flat key lockset, while the Unbreakable AutoLock PRO has a high-security cylindrical lockset.

And then from their own website:

Are additional keys available?

Many Unbreakable products, such as the AutoLock PRO, use a 7-pin rotary key also known as a 'barrel' key. Most locksmiths can duplicate this key. ULC is not able to make duplicate keys or send additional keys out to customers. This ensures that as the owner of your lock, you have the only keys available for it.

So if I am to read this right they are saying "It is secure because we can not give you duplicate keys, but any locksmith can". Gotcha. And since when is a 7 pin tubular lock considered "high-security"?

I haven't found any claim that this unit that I have is unpickable, but it would appear that they do claim the lock to be bullet proof. That's good. I stay awake at night worried that my truck will be stolen by a renegade thief with a Glock for a modus operandi.

db

[lockedin]

I think the worst part is the steering wheel cover they provide

[workstation]

It's not the same brand, but here's a video of someone bumping one of these car-theft prevention accessories - a DEFEND-LOCK gear stick lock in this case - with a 6 pin dimple lock.

It's alarmingly easy; the only security comes from the fact that you have to know what type of lock it is before you can bump it.

I don't really understand why they don't use lever tumbler locks on these gadgets. It would be much securer, and surely also cheaper? Maybe they just think that dimple locks look high-tech.

Anyway, here it is, from locks.ru, which is a very informative site if you can be bothered to translate it. http://locks.ru/win/informat/bump/defend_lock/defend.shtm

[raimundo]

after reading the posts in this thread, it seems to me that the small dimples that are plated probably are in all the points that pin collumns might be drilled in, and the ones that show brass are the actual places where the key is cut to match the pins in the lock. meaning that the company that installs pins and probably installs the lock in the device buys the blanks with false dimples plated before the lock pinned and keys are cut. very likely, the locks change position of pin columns because the few varients in pin depth make it difficult to have numerous changes in actual keys and they are trying not to have so few keys that accidental fits are found to be common before they have made their money and moved on.

[vector40]

I'm starting to think that dimple locks are the new tubulars. Not especially secure -- in fact probably easier to pick than alternatives -- but with a certain degree of (diminishing) security due to an unusual form factor, thereby attaining a kind of security-by-obscurity since most people don't really know how to approach them.

Arguments?

[zeke79]

Maybe a broad statement. There are many secure dimple locks out there from Kaba Penta to Dom IX. MulTLock is readily available and a very secure lock in their interactive line. I think it is like most locks of any type. There is junk out there and there is high quality also. It just depends on what you are looking for. A cheap dimple lock offers a big basic protection and that is a slightly higher level of key control depending on availability of blanks.

This is a nice topic to sit and think on Vector. Now my mind will be running on this for a couple of days while looking at my dimple locks.

[digital_blue]

Ray, your assessment is bang on as far as this device I own is concerned. There are several chambers that are not in use, but would likely be in use in a different example of the same product.

Vec: Certainly there is some security by obscurity involved with these low-end dimple locks. The keys are not readily available without purchasing the product. That makes for at least some level of security. However, given the ease with which this lock can be picked (with the right tool), they do offer very little in the way of security from the informed thief. However, as we all know, any non-high-security lock offers little security from the informed thief. Those aren't the ones that these locks are designed to protect us from.

I like the idea of lever locks in a device like this, though I'd imagine they'd end up using only the cheapest of lever locks and they would be susceptible to various simple attacks as well.

db

[TOWCH]

Reminds me of rock, paper, scissors: Foil impressioning beats dimple lock, 2 wires beats lever lock, hacksaw beats everything.

[freakshow]

It'd be more like foil impressioning beats dimple lock, dimple lock beats traditional tools, and traditional tools poke holes in foil, rendering it useless.

[digital_blue]

It'd be more like foil impressioning beats dimple lock, dimple lock beats traditional tools, and traditional tools poke holes in foil, rendering it useless.

Anyone wanna play foil dimple picks then?

db

[freakshow]

I don't trust you Db... You'd wind up just pulling out a bump key... Everyone knows bumpkeys beat everything.

[illusion]

I don't trust you Db... You'd wind up just pulling out a bump key... Everyone knows bumpkeys beat everything.

I'd love to see you bump a lever lock

[freakshow]

heh, forgot about them... Although they're really only common in the UK... I don't see them here in Canuckland.

[taylorgdl]

Reminds me of rock, paper, scissors: Foil impressioning beats dimple lock, 2 wires beats lever lock, hacksaw beats everything.

And therm. . .