Hacker Opens High Security Handcuffs With 3D-Printed And Laser-Cut Keys
forbes.com
forbes.com
Apparently they don't realize that (most) keys can now be copied from a photograph, from up to 195 feet away[1]. I realize that these "high security keys" are probably harder to duplicate than a normal key - but how many security officers know they should be keeping the keys out of sight as well as physically secure?
[1] http://hackaday.com/2009/09/22/photographic-key-duplication/
At first their attempts were pretty elaborate. They lifted a fingerprint from a glass a person had held and then used an acidic solution to etch that pattern onto a mold. This mold then opened all of the high-end thumbprint readers they had.
However, if I remember correctly, they then went low-tech and simply used a photocopy of the thumbprint which also opened several devices.
Of course that says nothing about other ways to defeat the cuffs, which would probably become the prime area of research at that point. (why attack the locking mechanism if there are easier to defeat weaknesses).
Handcuffs are designed so that one officer can put them on and another can take them off. If that weren't the case this situation of being able to print 1 key for all handcuffs wouldn't exist - they would simply make unique keys per handcuff.
However, in a broader view, yeah, there are probably better ways than fingerprints handle keys once electronic locking mechanisms are introduced. Probably something akin to a 2-factor cryptographic mechanism.
I feel though that my larger point is getting lost in this thread. It was/is:
Just because a security technology doesn't work for reason $x in situation $y, that doesn't mean that the weaknesses also apply to situation $z.
Two-Factor authentication (something you have + something you know) is for physical security as well as online.
What makes a lock difficult to print and difficult to pick can be very different.
[0] http://eclecti.cc/hardware/physical-keygen-now-for-disc-deta...
everyone with a key is considered suspect. EFF suggest you walk around with several keys to your neighbors houses to enable a doubt defense.
Feds waste millions of tax dollars on 3D printers crackdowns trhu the country, since they can't be used for anything else other than pirating handcuffs keys copyrighted material. Seizes thingverse servers and demand CEO extradition.
They are in basic form, the first generation of digital replicators and some of the open source variants are already under $500, with dirt cheap print costs.
Who only knows what the patent industry is going to do, because certain sections of it are now screwed far, far worse than the recording and distribution industry ever was over people downloading MP3s, especially given that the mashup and resharing of different objects will probably be an extremely common use of desktop manufacture-to-order technologies and is easily accomplished over many existing and popular MMORPGs, alongside all the standard web channels, so is an absolute nightmare to try and police.
And that's without even considering the issues raised by laser scanning, photographic 3d, or just artists with a good eye and memory.
http://boingboing.net/2011/09/20/3d-printed-ar-15-parts-chal...
One would hope that self-driving cars will have their driving system disconnected from any networks, but I don't know if that's even practical.
It isn't, except in as much as you can program it to follow a flight-path and then clear off. Given that you don't need to be in wireless range (200 meters?) you could send the drone in from miles away. But that aside: your comment is rational, but I wouldn't rely on politicians being so faced with scare stories about these exciting new technologies. Allied to their usual technophobia, they will try to ban everything, or require licences with onerous conditions.
But it's rare that you need such compatibility; instead, "anyone in the department" is a fine size.
Handcuff manufacturers cheaped out. If they offered keys made per department, the keyspace would go from approximately 5 to tens of thousands. That won't stop someone from duplicating a key, but it will change the cost proposition for mass-duplication.
Plastic ties don't have the key issue, but they are vulnerable to a knowledgeable (semi-) brute-force attack.
Through what is known as mutual aid, it is routine for various smaller police agencies to interoperate with other law enforcement agencies; with county, state and federal agencies with direct jurisdiction, and police departments from neighboring municipalities through mutual aid.
Finding a half-dozen police agencies at various calls is not uncommon.
This isn't only a factor with small departments, either. In some areas within cities with large established police departments, there can be a dozen law enforcement agencies with direct jurisdiction for a particular location and/or event.
And yes, this can be why officers at large events are often issued plastic cuffs. No keys.
Paralleling the problem that would arise with using multiple different cuff keys, simple radio communications among the various police and municipal agencies can be an issue. Everything from the frequencies and bands and encoding to the individual radio codes used by officers can lead to confusion.
When the hits the fan, a police officer needs equipment that works reliably, and the officer doesn't want to even have to think about using the equipment, nor about different cuff keys, radio protocols or codes.
But in the very same article, there's a lovely photo of the Bonowi key next to a more readily-available Chubb key[1].
And I suspect most of the kinds of people with access to laser cutters and 3D printers have heard that it's pretty easy to dupe a key from a photo. Googling for "duplicate key from photo" brings up any number of articles that outline the techniques.
I can only assume that the Chubb key was provided for scale, to allow anyone with the tools to reproduce the Bonowi as well!
[1]http://blogs-images.forbes.com/andygreenberg/files/2012/07/S...
For all their high-tech trappings, laser cutters are still doing what humans do by hand all the time; they just do it faster.
Maybe the destruction method would be something like UV light to melt the cuffs.
Is it so important that we have re-usable cuffs?
Zip ties themselves are easily circumvented with a razor. If stronger, how much stronger? Do you need heavy-duty bolt cutters to get them off?
UV light to melt the cuffs.
Wouldn't a UV light source then be an easily-producible key?
And they do nasty things like putting your hands behind your back.
Although, those were metal cuffs so I could maneuver my wrists independently.
Party at Pavel's house!
The crux of the idea is that only way to get the cuffs off is to break the cuff with a specific brute force that requires a large unconcealable device. Even with the device, you still need time/space to use it (5-10 mins).
So pretend that we would need a large UV lamp and 5 mins to melt through.