In the time honored tradition of The MIT Guide to Lockpicking, engadget has published a two part series on bump keys and locks that are vulnerable to them.
Read part 1 here and part 2 here.
As with all security related matters, the best security comes from security-in-depth. It’d be a great idea to replace any affected locks with non-bumpables such as those mentioned in the article, but it’s also a great idea to have other security measures in place (external security cameras, fencing, an alarm system, a big mean attack dog, etc.). The more critical the thing to be protected, the more layers of security one should use.
Now go forth and lose sleep over all of your tumbler locks.
Toshiba’s laptops aren’t immune to Sony battery problems, either.
Apparently Sony-supplied Toshiba batteries aren’t blowing up, but certain lots can suddenly lose power causing the laptop to shut off if it’s not plugged into AC. One of my Toshiba Satellites is from a model line that has some affected units, but thankfully for me, according to Toshiba’s instructions for determining whether a given battery is affected, mine is safe.
Whew, close one!
Here’s a brilliant definition and discussion of “What is a Hacker?”.
I bet quite a few of us tinkerers identify with this. Indeed, any good engineer is by definition finding better ways to “bend the rules” to make things cheaper, faster, better. So fear not, fellow geeks, wear the “hacker” moniker with pride.
Now back to breaking things…
