Marc Tobias and Tobias Bluzmanis demonstrate for Charles Graeber at Conde Nast headquarters in New York how Medeco high security locks could be bumped and picked, using their patented “code setting keys.” The article appeared in Wired in July, 2009. The information also was documented in “Open in Thirty Seconds: Cracking one of the most secure locks in America” by Tobias and Bluzmanis.
Many security upgrades and modifications have been made in Medeco cylinders and deadbolts since the publication of the Wired article and book. It is still one of the best and most reliable high security locks in the world.
Lever locks have been around for hundreds of years and can provide significant levels of security for residence, business, and for high security applications, especially for safes and vaults.
John Falle, one of the global experts in covert entry tool design and development for government agencies, figured out a way to impression level locks in a few seconds by drilling holes in the shaft of a blank key, then inserting small pins and nylon fish line into each hole that corresponds to the position of each level within a target lock. The steel pins, all at one height at the beginning of the process, will be moved to the correct shear line position for the bolt to clear by rocking the key back and forth. Each lever actually forces the corresponding pin to the correct position.
Watch the video that Marc Tobias shot while in Lithuania in 2011 at a security conference.
Many of the supposedly secure prescription drug containers are far from that. Take for example the RX Locker that was sold and touted by Walgreens and other retailers as secure to protect medication from kids access. We analyzed this $;20 piece of plastic and contacted the inventor, who, after viewing our video, withdrew the product from the market. Watch our video and read my story in Forbes. The bottom line: investigate any security claims before you buy. We have seen this in countless products where the manufacturers have no idea what they are doing with regard to security. We demonstrated this in a recent analysis of containers to prevent theft of packages by company called CleverMade. We posted s series of videos on this and another product, BoxLock.
Security Laboratories did an extensive analysis of prescription drug containers produced by several different manufacturers in the United States. Watch the introduction and overview by Marc Tobias and Tobias Bluzmanis
I interviewed Dr. Bud LaTeef in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is a pain management specialist and developed a supposedly secure drug container several years ago and has sold many of these to clinics and individuals. I interviewed him about his design and philosophy. Unfortunately the team that developed his container knew little, if anything about secure product designs. Watch my interview with him, then how we compromised his container in seconds.
We analyzed another container called the PillPod. This is actually a neat design, but can be relatively easily decoded by a teenager. Watch our analysis.
SaferLock was invented by two college students and is a good idea, but defective in its design. We developed several methods to compromise the container.
Finally, we analyzed several containers made by Vaultz in Cleveland, Ohio. While these containers are secure, the locks are not. Watch how we instantly opened these containers.
Read the full article in Forbes and watch the other relevant videos about this topic.
Marty Cooper is a legend in the cellular communications industry. He was Director of Research and Development at Motorola and was responsible for developing cellular. He made the first cellular telephone call in the world, using the technology his team developed. While at Motorola, he wrote the foreword for my book entitled “Police Communications,” which was a treatise on law enforcement radio systems, published in 1974.
I met with him for an afternoon in San Diego to discuss cellular, and also the use of phones in aircraft, which our Federal Communications Commission has forbid.
Watch my interview with Marty Cooper.
Dade Lock and Key was one of the premiere Medeco dealers and lock shops in the Miami, Florida area. George was a Cuban refugee who turned his business into one of the most respected and successful security service facilities in southern Florida. George allowed us to use his shop to do our research for “Open in Thirty Seconds,” our book about how we compromised Medeco high security locks.
Watch my interview with George the day before he retired.
In its Federal class action lawsuit, Marc Tobias and Larry Drury alleged that certain designs of Stack-On gun safes were defective. It is the opinion of Marc Tobias that Stack-On lacked competence in security engineering to understand the issues involved to make their safes secure. There have been several recalls by the CPSC regarding their safes, and there is significant evidence that the design of one of their safes led to the death of three-year-old Ryan Owens in Vancouver, Washington.
Stack-On has never admitted any liability, nor that there designs were in any way unsafe. As a lawyer and physical security expert, i would highly recommend that no consumer purchase any Stack-On product to protect weapons.
Watch our videos of the analysis of different Stack-On designs.
