Unlock Your Doors With a Knock Code 408
Erica Campbell writes to tell us IsraCast is reporting that E-lock has developed a new kind of lock technology designed to open a door based on a "knock code." From the article: "This innovation is based on patented technology which uses a series of quick knocking sounds. The discrete mechanical knocks open the lock and are produced by a small device that can be carried by any authorized person. The device which opens the lock needs to touch the door (which can be made out of any material such as metal, wood, plastic or glass) to cause the lock mechanism to open. Since there is no keyhole or contact point on the door, this unique mechanism offers a significantly higher level of security then existing technology."
this knocking sequence seems too easy to copy (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:cool (Score:2, Insightful)
using a pseudorandom generator with the current time, and your pincode as seed.
Re:Higher security? (Score:2, Insightful)
Anyway, point is, the strongest PKI based lock is pointless on a hollow core door with 1ply and cardboard, or even on vastly stronger doors if it is in a position to have heavy objects rammed at it. If you're in a high security situation that requires that kind of access, it doesn't sound too unreasonable to assume someone would want in badly enough to borrow a fence post driver and try and bash their way through.
Re:Security though obscurity... (Score:2, Insightful)
RTFA. Why do you (and about half the other commenters so far) naturally assume that the technology is that simple?
"Even more importantly, if an unauthorized person tries to record the knocking sequence and play it back in order to open the door, the lock will not open since the knocking sequence changes every time"
As another commenter noted, the main reason this is a bad idea is that you're SOL if the battery or power is out.
Re:this knocking sequence seems too easy to copy (Score:3, Insightful)
changes every time
The alphabet is so small though. Short and long beats and short, long, and zero rests. That's 4 characters. If it can be assumed that no one will use consecutive rests, there is still limited number of passwords.
Remembering different passwords is painful, especially if they change often. Therefore, they will be have to be short and sweet. All a break-in artist has to do is get a unit of his own and get familiar with the most common knocks. They should get recycled eventually and the probability of finding the right knock in 3 tries could be quite good.
Re:this knocking sequence seems too easy to copy (Score:2, Insightful)
- this message uses only 0 and 1 characters -
Don't drink and knock (Score:3, Insightful)
"Bye dude...thanks and whatever...yeehaa..."
"Okie...so now what was the knock again...."
knockity, knockity, knoccck
Invalid entry. Please try again.
knock, knock-de-knock
Invalid entry. Please try again.
knock, knock, knock
Invalid entry. Please try again.
Kicks the door. Mutters all known curses.
Invalid entry. You have 2 more options before the system is locked for the next 12 hours.
Re:Security though obscurity... (Score:2, Insightful)
Anyone in audio range can hear the notes as you dial numbers on lots of home alarm systems too. They're considered fairly secure anyway. Hopefully they've stopped including this 'feature' on newer systems.
Here's why I think this is all irrelevant anyway: This lock isn't intended, or at least isn't ideal for home use. The fact of the matter is that the locking mechanism on the doors isn't usually the weak point of a person's home. Most break-ins rely on poor security practice and the weak structural strength of the door itself. That's right, they can't decrypt the key, so they just brute force it.
So I think this is for other uses, like warehouses, where it would be handy to be able to store lots of different combos on one clicker. There's no added risk - all your eggs are likely to already be in the one basket in the form of a keyring.
Re:this knocking sequence seems too easy to copy (Score:3, Insightful)
Another view of this is that millions of locks in the world are not really there for security, they are there for safety reasons and managing the keys for these is a nightmare. Utility companies have thousands of bits of plant at remote locations (pumping stations, substations
The plant is locked to prevent unauthorised access, and unsafe operation. So in these cases I can see a use for this type of lock. Its a lot easier to keep a list of access codes against lock numbers than it is to manage thousands of physical keys - which people put in their pocket and then go away on leave for a fortnight.
Re:Higher security? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Higher security? (Score:4, Insightful)
Weakest link? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's only a significant improvement if the old lock was the weakest point.
Kicking in the door, unlocked / poorly locked windows (or just a brick), carding the door, open skylights
At a guess, I'd say windows, not doors are the weakest physical link in security, with "leaving the back door unlocked" a close second.
-- Should you trust authority without question?