LockPicking

[R.J.]

Just as a general question, does anyone know if V1ru5 is going to bring his lockboard or be giving a lockpicking talk this year?

I am thinking about building and bringing my own lockboard, since he didn't bring one last year, and it was alot of fun to meet others with an interest in picking.

Is this something that others would be interested in?

[d0gcomplex]

interested...

The lock board at dc8 was great and was missed last year, even if you both bring one they will get used.....the board at dc8 was always busy

[Grifter]

Interest

I know that some of the guys from Salt Lake City are anxious to see a return of lockpicking to DefCon. So there deffinetly is a demand for it.

[R.J.]

I had a ton of fun at the board at DC8, everyone was great, and really interested in learning how to pick locks. I gave away my copy of the "Doc Formerly Known As...", and had alot of fun sharing what I know.

Since interest is there, I will definitely see what I can do about scraping together a board.

[converge]

I know nothing about lock picking, but it intrigues the hell out of me... is this mostly a lockpick hack area or the con? or are newbies welcome?

[R.J.]

During the years when it has been a talk, it has been in the newbie track, but in all seriousness, it is incredibly easy to do for most locks.

For basics look up the "MIT Guide to Lockpicking", sometimes listed as the "Document Formerly Known As the MIT Guide to Lockpicking". It is an excellent resource, and is generally more than sufficient for the theory of how to pick normal pin type rotating locks. Circular locks, medeco locks, most combination locks, etc are a different matter, but you don't run into them as often.

I would read that, and pick up a small set of picks from southord.com. Anything more than 14 pieces is overkill for a first set, and far in excess of what you need. Truthfully, a tension wrench and a snake pick are the two most useful picking tools I have, and enable me to open most of the things I CAN open. (I am nowhere NEAR as good as V1ru5.)

I think I can also manage to bring some law enforcement cuffs with me, you can shiv them open if they aren't double locked, but have to actually pick them if they are. It's an interesting one for people as well, because you have to practice, practice, practice, until you can do it behind your back.

In any case, we should get in touch at the con.

[gbm]

lock board / picking demo

R.J.: what type of locks are you thinking of putting in your lock board??? I am also thinking of building a lock board to bring to DC 10. Is there a demand for maybe some more difficult locks? (mushroom pin, tubular, medeco... ?)

I know one of the things that has frustrated me in the past talks is no coverage of more advanced locking mechanisms.

[R.J.]

wafer lock, Master pad lock, some miscellaneous deadbolts. Nothing too tricky, maybe a beer lock. If you want to bring tough or interesting locks, I would definitely encourage it.

[octalpus]

I would love to see more lockpicking boards. I never even got close to the board at DC8, because there were always too many people around. I'm sure that a board with harder locks would be welcomed by many, as well.

[TechnoWeenie]

mag stripe locks

so... breaking down the tracks and the code for the magnetic stripe pvc cards\locks.. that would be fun. Some of them I can scan with a reader, others I can not. What are the different standards, and equipment used.

TW

[R.J.]

Sounds like fun, there are 3 tracks on the magnetic stripes found on cards, and not all readers get all 3 stripes. The first two are usually used for normal information stuff, CC#, name, etc. The third is a more recent introduction, and sometimes stores things like zip code and more abstract information. (This is all just stuff I've picked up off the web.)

Personally, I find magstripes fascinating, and I really want to play with them, but I have never gotten off my ass and bought a reader. I may have to do that before the con and put that with the boards (which will probably end up somewhere in the hang out area).

As for format of the information on there, I would assume it to be binary at it's lowest level. I just need to get a reader that will give me a raw dump, start using cards with known associated values, and then we can start figuring out if it is big-endian or little-endian, etc.

[blackwave]

Originally posted by R.J.
wafer lock, Master pad lock, some miscellaneous deadbolts. Nothing too tricky, maybe a beer lock. If you want to bring tough or interesting locks, I would definitely encourage it.

It would be great if your lockboard had a few different brands of handcuffs, you could either set it up so one cuff was hooked onto the board and the other cuff could hook onto a person who wanted to test their basic cuff skills, or you could bolt the cuffs so someone could try and pick the cuffs starting in the standard behind the back position... you could even have one set at each side of the lockboard and have two people taking shots and racing to pick themselves out, now that would be something to watch. If you really wanted to get inventive you could even hook up a low voltage circuit that would trigger a light or piezo to detect if someone was moving around too much and causing the chain/bracket to rattle. You could call it the caught-by-a-fed lockboard..

[R.J.]

Interesting idea. I had planned on bringing my pair, they are the Smith and Wesson cuffs that just about everyone uses. The problem is, I don't know how much picking is actually involved. If they aren't locked, then you can shiv them open using a thin piece of metal (this is what I use one of my diamond picks for), otherwise, you need something kind of like the key to open it.

Basically, a little projection so you can catch the cylinder and rotate it around. Since all cuffs have the same key, the easiest way out is just to stash a key in a small carrying place. Behind the backmost belt loop is a good one. Or in the seams of your jeans.

[blackwave]

Originally posted by R.J.
Since all cuffs have the same key, the easiest way out is just to stash a key in a small carrying place. Behind the backmost belt loop is a good one. Or in the seams of your jeans.

Yes, unofficially I always carry a few keys with me :) Not that I plan to get into any trouble of course ;) Though I have several sets of handcuffs of different brands and different mechanisms... I have noticed that some cuffs use a smaller notch than others.. I had a nice black swat type of key, but it didn't work with all the cuffs.. the one with the smaller notch works with all the standard types I have though.


______####|
___________| (does not allow turning, in some brands)

______##|
________ | (more universal)

[R.J.]

Interesing. Will you be bringing this stuff to the con? I would like to see the more universal key, and if my key's notch is too long, I can dremel it down.