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 ….
That is probibly one of the most ingenious things I have ever seen.
As a man who loves machines, and more specificly, machining process (which explains why I am so facinated with locks), i would be curious to know weither these are laser cut, or hydro jetted.
Hopfully you can get that meetingon video, and we can all share in your expereince.
Maybe this is helpful information:
http://www.jenimattson.com/pages/identity/melvin.shtml
The style of the picks in the card looks the same.
Hmm…Mitnick’s cards were actually made by the same woman.
i bet that will look brilliant with a toool logo on it….
but being dutch: “kost dat?”
That’s so cool Barry! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the info Zock. This woman lives in the Seattle area. I should look her up, maybe get a bit more info on how they are made for everyone here at Blackbag. What do you think Barry?
The card is cool and tomorrow I will bring some video online trying to pick a lock with it. And for the record: Kevin gave permission to publish his card without blurring any of the info on it….
Barry,
Unrelated matter, but I was wonderiing whether you have seen the german movie “Das Leben der Anderen” by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
In the movie about the East German Stasi, there is a scene where they are picking open doors. The first use shows an electric pick gun being used ( 1985 east germany ) This would be unlikely, would it not?
It was a wonderful movie none the less, highly recommended. If you have seen the picking scenes, could you give your opinion on the matter?
Thanks
Shane
According to this article there were several patents for electrical lock picking guns issued in the US prior to ’85
http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/138/48/
though I haven’t seen this film the Stasi weren’t idiots and could surely have either ripped off designs patented somewhere else in the world, come up with their own ideas or acquired foreign made models by fair means or foul by the year in question.
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cool card – though I wonder about your customers cutting their fingers to shreads on the edges left after the tools have been pressed off the tabs.
Not a new idea by any means, Safe Ventures in the uk had a few at one time and i was told Falle also uses them sometimes,
Theres plenty of places that do these so shop around 😉
Shane,
I have personally tinkerd with electric pick guns around 1984, soo it is not unlikley.
Barry, I just saw the movie you mention … a REAL GREAT movie …
I’ve already seen the epick they use on the movie and OLI has one like that made by a small cie in Germany … aluminium body … conical head and rather less noisy than the present modern ones !! but unfortunately I don’t remember right now the brand name … disturbing the neighbour when making this “black bag operation” seems for me quite unlikely too … and using this epick without tensioner !!! but dispite some minor mistakes not only on lockpicking it is a really good movie … I recommend it
I just made some researches on this movie … about the scenario … the actual director for the Stasi Memorial in Berlin (Mr Hubertus Knaabe)refused to use the old Stasi prison for the movie cause ” Never a Stasi Officer (during his duty or not )helped the people who was under surveillance ”
The movie was filmed in the old Stasi Offices in Normannenstrabe at Lichtenberg (former DDR)
I’m Jeni’s husband and I did the typesetting on the cards so I guess can provide some more info on them…
They were made by http://www.metalcards.com out of Seattle, using a chemical etching on steel process. Melvin’s card was made first, and that was what sparked Kevin Mitnick’s interest – he contacted us (I remember my response when he called me was “you mean THE Kevin Mitnick?”) and said he had asked Melvin for permission to use the same design. The handles on the picks themselves were shortened to make room for the extra info Kevin wanted on the card.
I know this company can manufacture this type of metal card with the die cuts. They made my last set and they’re total showstoppers.
http://cuttingedgedesigns.com/metalbusinesscards.htm