How to prevent break-ins and burglaries this Christmas Season
December 08, 2007
In researching my recent article on cheque washing, I called B.C. locksmith Frank Fourchalk to ask him for some pointers. Frank is a crusader for improved home security and often speaks to police associations, writes articles and sponsors events to boost security awareness for homeowners and businesses.
As we talked about some of the raging scams currently plaguing anyone with a door, I thought you'd like to hear about the most jaw-dropping one!
So in this post, Frank shares insider tips on a phenomenon called 'lock bumping', which easily and quickly disables the cylinders on most North American entry locks and allows a thief instant access. Frank also gives us some DIY tips for making your entry door 'bump-proof'. Thanks, Frank. You da man.
P.S. While we were talking Frank had me search You Tube for 'lock bumping' to see the phenomenon for myself. Yikes!
LOCK BUMPING HITS THE INTERNET
By Frank Fourchalk For those of you who have not heard the term, "Lock Bumping", let me explain. This is a lock-picking technique for opening pin tumbler locks (used on most North American homes). This procedure is done by altering a key to gain access to many locks of the same type.
Should you be concerned?
"Lock
Bumping", has been around for at least 50 years. German and Dutch Locksmiths were experimenting with this lock opening technique long before the rest of
the world even knew about it.
It took a fellow by the name of Klaus Noch
to expose the dangers of "Lock Bumping" techniques and he alerted the German media in 2003. In 2004 The Organization Of Open Lock Pickers (Toool) learned about
it and conducted their own research, resulting in the first English
(whitepaper) report being released in 2005.
The Dutch public learned
about it mid 2005 through a NOVA television broadcast. " Lock Bumping",
escalated at the world famous "What The Hack" lock-picking conference and hit Internet sites in 2006.
Should you be aware of lock bumping? Absolutely.
Should you panic because you are in danger of having your lock bumped? No! The
chances of having your locked bumped are probably no greater than they were
before all this hype started.
Statistics show that most break-and-enters
are executed by kicking or shouldering doors. Your first line of defense would
be to harden up those target areas by installing door reinforcing hardware along
with frame reinforcement strike plates to help combat this type of attack.
<----Standard tools of the lock-picker
Most people tuning to the web for more information on lock bumping are
concerned citizens or security professionals. Dark-side viewers taking the time
to turn out bump keys have probably sourced out other methods or techniques to
gain entry into your home. There are more reported break-ins these days showing no
signs of forcible entry, but the numbers are still low.
Although most mainstream locks sold to-day have some sort of protection
against bumping any lock four years or older should be evaluated by your local
locksmith. Companies like Mul-T-Lock and Medeco produce high security
deadbolts that are virtually bump-resistant. The beauty of installing these
types of deadbolts is that the keys are patented and controlled by the locksmith
dealer who installed them. This prevents a burglar from obtaining a blank for
bumping purposes, not to mention that these keys need to be produced on special machines.
Another alternative is to install extra deadbolts on your exterior doors with thumb turns on the inside and no key access on the outside. Once these deadbolts are locked, a bumper would be locked out. Of course you would now have to install a high security cylinder in your entry door deadbolt for access.
You can read more of Frank's syndicated columns online at Home Envy or on Frank's web site.
Cool public service site about lock bumping.
http://lockbumping.org
Posted by: lock bumping | January 10, 2008 at 06:43 PM