One of the hairier unintended consequences of cheap 3-D printing is that any troublemaker can duplicate a key without setting foot in a hardware store. But clever lockpickers like Jos Weyers and Christian Holler already are taking that DIY key-making trick a step further: They can 3-D print a slice of plastic or metal that opens even high-security locks in seconds, without even seeing the original key.
Weyers and Holler’s trick is to 3-D print a “bump” key, which resembles a normal key but can open millions of locks with a carefully practiced rap on its head with a hammer. Using software they created called Photobump, the two engineers say it’s now possible to easily bump open a wide range of locks using keys based on photographs of the locks’ keyholes. And even without a high-quality 3-D printer, those specialized bump keys can be mail-ordered from 3-D printing services like Shapeways or i.Materialise that have no restrictions on printing keys.
As a result, all anyone needs to open many locks previously considered “unbumpable” is a bit of software, a picture of the lock’s keyhole, and the keyhole’s depth, says Weyers, a competitive lockpicker and security consultant. “You don’t need much more to make a bump key,” Weyers told an audience at the Hackers On Planet Earth conference, where he first hinted at the key printing software last month. “Basically, if I can see your keyhole, there’s an app for that.”
Bumping isn’t a new trick. The technique traditionally has involved filing a key blank into a set of teeth that rest against each of the pins in a pin and tumbler lock. As shown in the illustration below, when the key is tapped with a mallet or hammer those teeth “bump” the pins like a pool cue hitting billiard balls: The bottom portions stay put, but the force is transferred to the top halves of the pins, which jump up a few millimeters. By applying a small amount of torque to the key, a skilled bumper can catch those jumping pins outside of the lock’s cylinder, allowing it to open.
Even so, bump keys have long been tough to create for high security locks that use obscure, complex key blanks. Many lock makers carefully trademark or patent their key blank designs and prevent them from being sold to anyone outside a small group of verified customers. But with the advent of 3D printing, those restrictions can’t stop lockpickers from 3D printing their own blanks and filing them into bump keys—or simply printing bump keys with their teeth already aligned with a lock’s pins.
Weyers and Holler’s trick is to 3-D print a “bump” key, which resembles a normal key but can open millions of locks with a carefully practiced rap on its head with a hammer. Using software they created called Photobump, the two engineers say it’s now possible to easily bump open a wide range of locks using keys based on photographs of the locks’ keyholes. And even without a high-quality 3-D printer, those specialized bump keys can be mail-ordered from 3-D printing services like Shapeways or i.Materialise that have no restrictions on printing keys.
As a result, all anyone needs to open many locks previously considered “unbumpable” is a bit of software, a picture of the lock’s keyhole, and the keyhole’s depth, says Weyers, a competitive lockpicker and security consultant. “You don’t need much more to make a bump key,” Weyers told an audience at the Hackers On Planet Earth conference, where he first hinted at the key printing software last month. “Basically, if I can see your keyhole, there’s an app for that.”
Bumping isn’t a new trick. The technique traditionally has involved filing a key blank into a set of teeth that rest against each of the pins in a pin and tumbler lock. As shown in the illustration below, when the key is tapped with a mallet or hammer those teeth “bump” the pins like a pool cue hitting billiard balls: The bottom portions stay put, but the force is transferred to the top halves of the pins, which jump up a few millimeters. By applying a small amount of torque to the key, a skilled bumper can catch those jumping pins outside of the lock’s cylinder, allowing it to open.
Even so, bump keys have long been tough to create for high security locks that use obscure, complex key blanks. Many lock makers carefully trademark or patent their key blank designs and prevent them from being sold to anyone outside a small group of verified customers. But with the advent of 3D printing, those restrictions can’t stop lockpickers from 3D printing their own blanks and filing them into bump keys—or simply printing bump keys with their teeth already aligned with a lock’s pins.
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