Locksmithing Blog

My advice to you last time about going away is to be circumspect in public and specific with those you know and trust. Especially be aware of systems like Twitter and Facebook, where your updates will often make it clear that you are not at home, and for how long.

Just in the last few days, the papers reported that a rather unpopular figure in the UK was targeted for a visit late at night, the “Fat Cat” banker Sir Fred. He was, and still is, out of the country - he left immediately after the scandle about his £13 million pension arose - and this was widely reported in the news. Once someone tracked down his address, which is a mater of public record and findable for a few pounds online, they could enter it into Google Maps, and, perhaps, StreetView. This gives them a very high resolution map of where they are targetting, along with, in StreetView, good enough photography that they can determine alarm box positions, paths, letterboxes, etc. without ever needing to go near the target address.

How close can we get? Well, the ever-useful Daily Mail published a nice aerial shot of his house, plus a map, and some high-res pictures of it, as well as the fact that his street is “something road, Edinburgh” in a peice decrying StreetView. This isn’t going to happen for most people, though. Generally, you’ll have to either find your own details to hide them, or someone else will find your details to victimise you (perhaps).

Here’s 240 Poplar High Street. I picked it at random. I know it would take me half a day to get to it from Bromyard, and that when I got there, I could park for up to 4 hours between 8:30 and 5:30, but not if I’m in a lorry, because I can clearly read the road traffic sign.
View Larger Map This level of detail means that very little that can be seen from the street is now safe from (remote) prying eyes.

Of course, for a very long time people have done “reccies” of targets. It’s what you do - you go and look around and work out what you want to steal, how to get in, where to run away to, where to park a car. The difference is that now, the CCTV at the site cannot find you, because you were never there. Google logs everything, of course, so you could in theory be tracked down, even if you use a proxy or two, but the odds are far lower than someone recalling a guy peering in the window two days before.

What to do? Well, re-assess, or have an expert re-assess, your security. I’d recommend an ICL member, as we are all reputable and know what we are doing. Some things will be trivial, others will be more expensive, and you will have to determine how much you feel you can justify to yourself for your security. However, for under £100 most places can have their general level of security massively improved. Give us a call!

I’m back, refreshed from a week away, my first proper holiday for some years. Yet I left no online message on the blog to tell our customers. The reasoning is obvious, though some would argue there is no harm, it only takes a few moments to work out where we are based - click the “Contact us” page! - and, indeed, pull up my house on Google Earth (though not yet on StreetView)

From a security point of view, my answering machine simply said that everyone was busy, and to leave a message if we could be of further assistance. This didn’t prevent the phone from ringing at odd hours - three calls around 3am alongside the many others - but when it wasn’t always answered at least people knew most of the story.

Of course, all our large clients were informed, and most of our large clients remembered.

Anyway, my advice to you about going away is to be circumspect in public and specific with those you know and trust. Especially be aware of systems like Twitter and Facebook, where your updates will often make it clear that you are not at home, and for how long.

There have been many people who have reviewed and tested safe combination locks, including large organisations such as Underwriters Labatory and the British Standards Institute. It is the same with door locks, and insurance grade keyed padlocks. However, when I was recently asked to provide a secure combination lock for a set of factory gates, there was nowhere to turn to.

After buying and testing several combination padlocks, I decided to publish my notes, and at that point, I decided that it would be worth testing some of the lower end locks too.

If you use any of the locks given a poor score, you should probably think about upgrading them if your security is important to you. The advice for opening them is limited to very basic manipulation, the kind of thing that most people could work out in a few minutes if they were so inclined. No fancy tools are needed.

I am releasing the paper as “linkware” - you may have a personal or business copy, in exchange for a link back to here. If you are a locksmith, and would be interested in a full copy of this paper, please leave a comment with your website details, and, please link to this site. I will verify it and send you a full copy of the paper to your registered email address, which contains the manipulation process for each of the locks featured. Feedback, as ever, is welcome.

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