kryptonite locks unsafe...read now!!!

[alexXx]

hey guys i just ran into this on another forum i frequent...this sucks major donkey balls!!!

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52793

so, seeing as im in the market for a new lock now (rassumfrassum)...how are fork locks...anyone use those?


- alex

[jusAgs]

i wonder if u can do that to locks with those circular key rings but yeah that does suck.

[john]

WOW   If I hadn't seen it for myself I wouldn't have believed it.  Yep.  Those Krypto locks are too easily picked.

[maximus conjugatius]

Is it possible we are just fooled by the guy who shows in the movie? He could have made an exact copy of his Krypto Key, but then out of a Bic-pen?

But... I'll try with mine.

[Rema1000]

[Hi-T]

This is all over the web now- lots of people confirming the same thing.

[The Buddha]

I didn't even look at this post thinking it was some guy driving off with disc lock and falling and breaking his neck... but totally different... BTW this was attempted by me on my wrecking yard friends buell... those things have the round type for ignition... I didn't manage to open it, but it did fit but I wasn't attempting to open it either... ha ha bet Buell owners are running for upgrades now...
Cool.
Srinath.

[CasiUSA]

Oops, didn't read this thread, I inquired about it on a new thread on the O&E Forum.

[red_phil]

Well Kryptonite seem to be taking it seriously.


Canton, MA September 17, 2004 - Kryptonite today announced it will
provide free product upgrades for certain locks purchased since
September 2002, in response to consumer concerns about tubular
cylinder lock technology.
Consumers can visit the company's Website (www.kryptonitelock.com) on
Wednesday afternoon, September 22, 2004, to learn how they can
participate in the security upgrade program.

[Rema1000]

Well, maybe yes, maybe no.  According to http://www.bikebiz.co.uk/daily-news/article.php?id=4640 ,

There were apparently some news articles in the British press in 1992 detailing the flaw:

In 1992, journalist John Stuart Clark - the cartoonist with BicycleBusiness magazine, the print version of BikeBiz.com - teamed up with a Nottingham bike thief to show how easy it was to break in to the majority of bicycle locks then on the market. One of the methods he revealed was the Bic pen method.

His article in New Cyclist magazine led to follow-ups in bigger circulation bicycle magazines such as MBUK, and a BBC consumer rights programme also carried a feature on the Bic method.

(http://www.bikebiz.co.uk/daily-news/article.php?id=4637). It appears that Kryptonite knew of this attack method, and decided that it was not widely-known enough to warrant retooling their designs.  

Depending on who you believe(*), a few, or perhaps almost all models of Kryptonite locks sold in the last decade are vulnerable.  However, according to Kryptonite's site,

Customers will need to have either registered their key number, registered for the Kryptonite anti-theft protection offer or have proof of purchase to qualify.

Also, they are only providing this for locks less than 2 years old.  From what I can read, they are basically pointing at the two models of their locks, for which they sell either old "barrel-style" keys or their newer "disk" style key; and allowing recent purchasers of these locks to trade-in the locking bar and upgrade to the more-secure locking bar.  Owners of other models, for which no disk-key version is available, are SOL.  Owners who neglected to send-in their product registration mailer are SOL.  

This strikes me as a "minimum effort to avoid class-action lawsuit" type of action.  It would be too costly for them to offer free upgrades to anyone who has purchased any Kryptonite lock in the last 12 years; for most customers, they would be forced to completely replace the lock with one of their newest, most expensive (highest profit-margin) locks.  Even if they had a huge warehouse of their new disk-key locks, this would flood the market and guarantee sluggish sales.  So this is what they can afford to do.

(*)The best suggestion I have heard, regarding why some users claim that they are unable to pick their locks, while others have claimed the ability to pick their locks with ease, is their may be a lock-to-lock variability.  There are 7 pins around the barrel key, which are pushed-down to enable the key to turn.  If the pins have small jumps in length from one to the next (1.1mm - 1.3mm - 1.5mm - 1.2mm...) then the plastic is able to push-down each pin until it meets resistance.  However, if the pinning pattern oscillates (1.0mm - 2.0mm - 1.1mm...), then the pen will not push all the pins down.  Who knows, your lock may be hard to pick after all?

Perhaps more concerning, is that I have read a few posts which indicate that any barrel-style key is susceptible to being picked in this fashion.  Cheaper locks for laptops and such have fewer pins, and an easy pick is more likely.  The main difference is that the size of the barrel key varies from brand-to-brand, so the type of pen which may work would also vary.

If there are any specific brands or models of barrel-style locks which are pick-resistant, then I think we will be seeing a list of locks and their comparative vulnerability (or what brand of pen to use to pick each) make the rounds in the next couple of weeks.

I did some googling on picking Kryptonite locks, and mostly I found old posts with instructions on how to use 7 pieces of spring steel (or surgical needles) to pick one... and it didn't sound easy or guaranteed.  It sounds like the thieves have simply been lacking a bit of imagination, and have been caught in a rut, trying to use metal tools when a high-friction stretchable plastic would work better.  However, now that this vulnerability is well-known to even the dorm rats, I expect that within 6 months, we well see a complete turnover in the locks being sold in stores (and each company will be selling keyed, or pen-resistant barrel locks).