Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Shoulder Surfing and Key Cutting
Shoulder surfing used to be a way to get a PIN number for an ATM. And it used to be that to make a duplicate of a key, a physical key such as is in your pocket or purse right now, you took it to a locksmith or store. The original was needed to make a duplicate. In the movies they'd press the key in soap or clay and make a duplicate from that impression. But we've gone hi-tech today.
The University of California at San Diego created a computer program called "Sneakey" that calculates the dimensions of a key from a photograph. Last August, researchers demonstrated at Defcon how to use a photo and duplicate keys to high security locks. At the Association for Computing Memory's Conference on Computer and Communications Security in October, photos of keys taken from as far away as 200 feet could be used to make a key. This was recently reported in Scientific American magazine.
Stefan Savage, a professor at UC San Diego, said there is a five digit code which can be ascertained from the dimensions of a standard key. That code can be entered into a key-cutting machine and an exact duplicate can be made.
Perhaps employees entering the bank and administrative offices need to protect their keys from any line of sight of shoulder surfers with phone cameras or telephoto lenses. It is a new world.
Shoulder surfing used to be a way to get a PIN number for an ATM. And it used to be that to make a duplicate of a key, a physical key such as is in your pocket or purse right now, you took it to a locksmith or store. The original was needed to make a duplicate. In the movies they'd press the key in soap or clay and make a duplicate from that impression. But we've gone hi-tech today.
The University of California at San Diego created a computer program called "Sneakey" that calculates the dimensions of a key from a photograph. Last August, researchers demonstrated at Defcon how to use a photo and duplicate keys to high security locks. At the Association for Computing Memory's Conference on Computer and Communications Security in October, photos of keys taken from as far away as 200 feet could be used to make a key. This was recently reported in Scientific American magazine.
Stefan Savage, a professor at UC San Diego, said there is a five digit code which can be ascertained from the dimensions of a standard key. That code can be entered into a key-cutting machine and an exact duplicate can be made.
Perhaps employees entering the bank and administrative offices need to protect their keys from any line of sight of shoulder surfers with phone cameras or telephoto lenses. It is a new world.
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