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Comment by cush | Hacker News Reader

> Imagine something like industrial espionage..

This isn’t the movies. 99% of the time people need their own lock picked because they lost they key

People don't buy locks so that they can lose their keys and require the lock to be picked. They buy locks to secure access to items or places. The parent I was replying to is saying that locks aren't security because a sledgehammer breaks them. I argue that a sledgehammer is only important for certain threat models. I am quite aware that most lock picking is for lost keys. However, I am describing threat models for which locks are important security. Do you understand?

The parent you were replying to mentioned at least three things:

- lock picking hobbist

- snap gun

- sledgehammer

And you simplified their comment to "locks aren't security because a sledgehammer breaks them" then proceeded to describe threat models where a sledgehammer doesn't work in detail. It's not a very constructive discussion.

Even without the sledge hammer your locks probably aren't good enough to stop a thief with a set of picks. A robot that brute forces it is more expensive and slower than any of the existing tools, so it shouldn't change your threat model.

"I broke this masterlock with a masterlock"

Lock companies put out a lot of advertising to make it seem like their products work far better than they actually do.

Locks are only really here to prevent "opportunistic" theft, not fully motivated ones.

You need more than that to prevent theft. They are like the first layer of an onion.

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