Archive for February, 2007

The 3KS trick that did not work (for me)

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007

(* I am recovering from the flu, will try to re-write this posting and shoot some video of it when I feel better)

Oli mailed me enthusiastically with a trick he heard from a locksmith
when I was in Barcelona.

Unfortunately it is not a trick to open an EVVA 3KS lock. I believe
the 3KS lock is one of the most decent locks ever made. Virtually
impossible to open without damaging it, hard to drill and keys that
are very secure against unauthorized duplication.

And EVVA is improving the design of this lock all the time.
The proof of that statement is at the end of this posting ….

The story that came to me was that you could add an extra layer of
‘master key’ protection to a standard 3KS lock by removing some
material of the key.

Normally you can only withdraw a working key after full rotation of the
key in the lock. However, if you remove the top layer of one side of
the key, you can remove it after 180 degree rotation. This will keep the
lock in a very odd state. The lock is still locked, yet will not allow
a non modified key entrance to the lock. Only a key that is filed flat
on one side will be allowed entrance and can open (or close) the lock
when it is in this ‘180 degree state’.

At first this might not sound like a big deal. But it is a nice way
for a store owner to lock (or open) his shop and he is the only one
that can operate the lock. Or at least it will give him the power to
deny otherwise valid keys entry to the lock. I would not call this a
bug or design error, but a nice feature.

Here are some of the pictures Oli send me:

Step 1) The EVVA 3KS lock and the modified key. Normally there is a ‘wave’

on the top and bottom of the sides of the key. But now on
one side this ‘wave’ is completely filed down.

Step 2) Key with flat filed part is inserted in the lock, flat side
facing downward. Take a close look at the black ‘follower’ that is in
the down position on this picture.

Step 3) Turn Key 180 degrees. You can see the black follower now is
aimed upwards.

Step 4) Remove key. Now the flat side is on the top side. In this
state, original, non-modified keys can not be inserted into the lock.
Only a key that is flat on one side can be inserted and operate the lock.

I was glad to receive the images from Oli and decided to shoot some
video on this subject. I took one of my new EVVA 3KS locks and started
to file away on the key. However, no matter what I tried I could not
remove my key after 180 degrees. I did try many things, yet the lock I
have can not be opened this way. So I will call my contact at EVVA
tomorrow and ask his opinion on this. My guess is they improved the
lock in the meanwhile and it is no longer possible on newer models.

I wanted to shoot some photos of the internals of a 3KS lock to show
you why there is a relief profile on the sides of the key and why this
trick works on the older generation 3KS locks. Unfortunately my
digital photo camera is not available till the end of this week. So I
could not shoot the images yet. Will do so at the end of the week.

To be continued …

Busy in Barcelona …. coming up next: EVVA 3KS

Wednesday, February 14th, 2007

As you might have read I am currently in Barcelona and making long
days on the CryptoPhone booth at 3GSM. So the weblog is a little slow.

Friday (or at latest Saturday) there will be an interesting piece of
information on the EVVA 3KS lock. For those of you who like a challenge/puzzle
the image below gives away something already….

EVVA 3KS

Kevin’s cool business cards Part II (The Movie)

Saturday, February 10th, 2007

Back in Amsterdam now, but only for a few hours. Currently at Schiphol
airport waiting for my flight to Barcelona. There is a CryptoPhone
booth this year at the 3GSM congress and I am one of the people
running it.

Anyway, about Kevin’s lockpick business cards….

He was willing to demo picking locks if I was able to reliably open
locks with his picks. If you want to see what happened you have to
watch the following video: Lockpick business cards (WMV) or on Youtube.

presentation

Kevin’s cool business card

Thursday, February 8th, 2007

Reporting live from the IT-Defense conference in Leipzig …

Tonight I received the coolest business card ever.

Kevin Mitnick will be speaking tomorrow morning at It-Defense, and we met each other at Dinner.

When he gave some people his business card they immediately directed him into my direction.

It was nice to meet him again, and he will join me picking locks tomorrow and try his own business card picks.

Hopefully I will have it on video for you.

And I will try to find out who makes these cards. It could become pretty popular since it is a brilliant idea.

And it looks like the quality is decent too. Lets see tomorrow if they are any good ….

Poco 2F, right on time

Tuesday, February 6th, 2007

We are on our way to it-defence in Leipzig Germany. A nice conference
with the best of the best speakers in the field of IT security.

I was invited back after giving a presentation last year. And I must
say I have good memories of it. Nice and friendly people and good
ambiance in a first class hotel.

This time I am not a speaker on the main track, but just for the small
and cozy round table talks. During these talks anything can be
discussed. From lockpicking to special locks or even CryptoPhone. And
in the meantime I will set up a lockpick training table for people to
come and pick, bump and impression some locks during the breaks.

www.kroeplin.com poco 2F

For that it is nice I yesterday received my Kroeplin poco 2F measurement
device. Right on time. This little gadget will allow you to take quick
and very easy measurements from a key while impressioning.

More on the conference in the days to come …

The ‘four bearded lock’ …

Friday, February 2nd, 2007

This ‘Bodenpanzer’ four bearded lock is something special too.
According to Oli it is one of the most secure safe locks ever made,
and one of the Nazi’s favorite high security locks.

bodenpanzer four bearded lock

It is a pretty rare and unique lock, and for a key alone people pay hundreds
of dollars on e-bay. And it is not an item you will see there often.

This blackbag video will shed some light on the lock an its inner working…

http://blackbag.toool.nl/video/bodenpanzer.wmv (WMV 38 Mb)