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Comment by brk | Hacker News Reader

I doubt these images really did all that much for people who wanted a set of TSA keys. The locks themselves are widely available and it's easy to reverse engineer a key if you have the lock (especially multiple copies of the lock to destroy and test on).

If anything, this just made it easier for casual lazy people to get a set of images for keys they'll never make :)

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It seems like the real value of the picture was that it made it obvious how insecure the system was.

The tiny locks and keys kind of make it obvious that it's not so much insecure as it was never ment to be secure.

Can you reverse engineer a master key from one sample lock though? Genuine question, IDK.

Should be doable as long as you have the non-master key for that lock too. A standard key lock works by having pins which are separated into two pieces. The key lines up the boundaries with the cylinder, which allows the cylinder to turn. Master key systems are typically done by having the pins be separated into three pieces, which allows two positions to turn the cylinder. One position is used by the normal key, and one is used by the master key. Having the normal key will let you figure out which is which, and then you can figure out the master key from that.

The way I understand master keys work is that the lock has two "breaks" in each pin, instead of just one. So each pin has two positions that allow the lock to open, and you don't know which one belongs to the master key.

I think at least two locks would be required, and depending on how many pins and possible positions there are, more might be needed in case of a collision.

I mean a lock comes with 1 key right? If you make a second key that opens it, but shares nothing with the default key - you may have a winner.

Source needed.

Make a working key from scrap metal by reverse engineering a lock

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-working-key-from-scra...

http://www.lockwiki.com/index.php/Impressioning

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