Fun Hack: How to open many keypad-access doors | Hacker News Reader

Fun Hack: How to open many keypad-access doors

david.weebly.com

115 pointsdrusenko21 comments

Cool. On a similar note, for most gated communities where there is also a keypad (for residents or visitors) to get in, 0911 works on 90+% of them. This is the standard "backdoor" for police/fire/EMS.

Slightly OT: I'd never seen the effect he has in his header. If anyone's interested, I found the docs & demos on it here: http://webdev.stephband.info/parallax.html

Thanks, that was by far the coolest thing about the article...

This points to a much broader security problem: Default admin passwords. They are everywhere, from elevators to routers, and it seems like 90% of devices are just left out in the open with the default admin password.

Instead of having a default password there should be a step in the setup where you are prompted for an admin password. Yes, there will be a lot of easily guessable passwords, but surely it's better than a factory default.

Having been involved in new products ranging from consumer electronics to security devices, the problem with this is that people will get too creative with their passwords, forget them, and then get mad when a factory default loses all settings.

In my experience, it's a losing battle no matter how you approach it. Make people specify a password, but then often times one person stages it and another installs it, so do you make an easy password for staging it? Do you add the overhead of making a device that enforces strong passwords? And so on...

The closest thing to a best solution I've seen is a 2-factor system, a passcode along with some kind of hardware dongle to default or get admin access.

Good points - this is obviously a hard problem that hasn't been solved. Basically there are two opposites that both need to be fulfilled to solve the problem: It has to be both easy and secure.

ATM's have default admin passwords; from there, you can reconfigure the value it assigns to each of the bill caddies.

http://www.matasano.com/log/506/atm-backdoor-why-is-no-one-t...

If ATMs aren't going to get this right, what hope is there for all the other random security locks?

Keyless entry systems have been a target for decades; read old Phrack issues for stories, and even listings of the (very small) complete sets of combinations. Obviously, conventional tumbler locks have been a target for as long as there's been an MIT.

For other systems throwing some fine dust or flour over the pad before someone uses it will get you 80% there. If it's dry and someone's already used it recently you can spot what the numbers are by brushing the dust off.

Very MacGyver. From Radio Shack parts you can build a piezo sensor circuit and stick that on the keypad.

I think you mean, McGruber, http://www.google.com/search?q=macgruber

along the same lines, older keypads on things like garage door openers that people rarely change the password for but use frequently have serious wear on the keys that are used in the pword. its very easy to open those up. less obvious than a powdery keypad.

2600 magazine had a nice article 10 years ago about default codes for many different keypad locks (including FedEx drop-boxes). I worked in hotel security at the time, and discovered that many of these defaults were in use at assorted locations where I worked.

That changed.