Category Archives: Security

Security

The unbreakable RFID door lock

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The MyKey 2300 site has some bold claims about their system. First, would you trust a door-knob that calls itself “The World’s Most Advanced Security Device”? Not bad for only $330.

Second, does a radio controlled door to your house really achieve their objective?

Get ready to simplify life and start enjoying your new found freedom from keys.

Is life really that much simpler just because you have to wave a key instead of inserting it into a hole? What makes life with a traditional key-based doorknob so complicated? They explain more on their “advantages” page:

What sets the MyKey 2300 head and shoulders above the conventional door lock? A great deal. Specifically, you will no longer be tied down to a metal key to open your door, and as a result, will have a door lock that is far more secure. With no keyholes, you have no worries for would-be intruders trying to pick your door lock.

Note that they just say you have no worries about “trying to pick your door lock”. I have to say that I don’t consider that the same as saying you will have no worries about someone opening your door without authorization.

The same page calls their RFID technology “unbreakable”. I said the site was bold, didn’t I? The FTC loves that kind of assurance from security product vendors.

Third, their answer to the question “What happens if someone tries to break in?” is really amusing:

The feature that significantly sets the MyKey 2300 apart from conventional door locks is the removal of the common metal keyhole. Metal keys, no matter how complex, can be picked by an expert and are vulnerable as a result. The MyKey 2300 eliminates the possibility of lock-picking from the start by removing the conventional keyhole, and allowing only authorized RFID cards, or a single pin code to gain access to the door. If someone attempts to use the wrong pin code or RFID card three times in a row, the lock will automatically shut down for 30 seconds before allowing another attempt at unlocking the door!

30 seconds? That will certainly deter the most hardened criminal who wants to use “brute-force” to enter your home. Their script might not sound as good if they wrote the more honest version. It could go something like “removing the conventional keyhole changes the risk from the metal key in your pocket to the PIN in your head/wallet, as well as the adhesive-backed RFID tag in your pocket” or “RFID signals, no matter how complex, can be picked by an expert and are vulnerable as a result”. I’m just saying…

Security

Citizen surveillance and teen pranks

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Just in case you weren’t already worried about the government using surveillance to monitor you, now you have to wonder about your neighbors. To be fair, this is a story about a family that was trying to track down the people that maliciously defaced their property. Not surprising, then, that they used everything they could to find the perpetrators.

What appeared to be a common teenage prank has led to felony vandalism charges against a handful of Norco teens.

They toilet-papered the wrong house — the home of a woman unwilling to let them get away with it.

After months of investigation and suspect interviews — spurred on by homeowner Katja Base’s own investigating skills — Norco sheriff’s deputies sent the case to the Riverside County district attorney’s office to decide whether to charge the teens and one adult.

That all seems fairly straightforward, but what’s really interesting is the data they actually managed to get for their investigation:

Katja Base decided she couldn’t expect sheriff’s deputies to work around the clock on a toilet-paper investigation. Armed only with two sneaker imprints on wads of moist toilet paper, she started her sleuthing. She persuaded store managers to average daily toilet-paper purchases for the week to spot the anomalies.

Just two days before the vandals struck, Stater Bros. on Hamner Avenue had a run on bathroom tissue.

The store manager reviewed the day’s receipts to find who bought so much toilet paper.

At 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17, someone bought 144 rolls of toilet paper, cheese, dog food, flour and plastic forks — the same items that ended up on Base’s house and lawn. The cash transaction left no easy way to trace the purchaser, but Base was on a roll. She asked if the store had video surveillance.

The footage showed four teenagers making the purchase: one of them wore a Norco High School letterman’s jacket with a name stitched across the back. The store’s parking-lot surveillance camera caught the truck the kids were driving.

Norco sheriff deputies didn’t take long to figure out who was responsible.

However, when the case stalled, Base nudged it along. She borrowed a Norco High yearbook and used online databases to get the name spellings, phone numbers and addresses of the kids on the store tape.

Seems like a case of her becoming a deputy or at least a concerned-citizen and helping carry along the investigation, with the blessing of her local law enforcement agency, in the interest of justice.

Energy, Security

VW Crafter Thatcham 1 Alarm

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The new VW cargo van, called the Crafter, boasts a lower insurance level because of the inclusion of an immobilizer and alarm. It also has some cutting-edge diesel powerplant and design features.

Thatcham provides some interesting press documents related to the 2006 British Insurance “Car Security Awards”, which gives some background and explains how the Crafter benefits from having their equipment as standard:

The security ratings in NVSR (New Vehicle Security Ratings) take no account of the relative cost of different makes/models or of any differences in perceived or actual attractiveness to car thieves. They are purely design based and take account of the following:

For “theft”

* Ignition/steering column lock
* Peripheral locks and mechanisms
* Electronic security system (alarm and immobiliser systems)
* Vehicle identification
* Secondary mechanical immobilisation system
* Glazing
* Key/component management
* Additional security features (e.g. locking rear seats and/or storage areas)
* Key duplication, key code information – one star deducted if unsatisfactory

For “theft from”

* Peripheral locks and mechanisms
* Alarm system
* ICE and in car electronics
* Glazing
* Key/component management
* Additional security features (e.g. locking rear seats and/or storage areas)
* Key duplication, key code information and road wheel and spare security – one star deducted if unsatisfactory

Has anyone rated your car’s security system?

Energy, History, Security

History of electrified rail in America

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I’ve written before about the privatization and dismantling of Los Angeles electrified railways. The city might someday serve as a case-study of methods used by petroleum companies to ruin the competition. But even more shocking is the story (pun not intended) suggested by this book review that claims America’s capability to sustain electrified railways nationwide took a tumble during the 1960s:

For most of the first half of the 20th century the United States led the way in railroad electrification. Before the outbreak of World War II, the country had some 2,400 route-miles and more than 6,300 track-miles operating under electric power, far more than any other nation and more than 20 percent of the world’s total. In almost every instance, electrification was a huge success. Running times were reduced. Tonnage capacities were increased. Fuel and maintenance costs were lowered, and the service lives of electric locomotives promised to be twice as long as those of steam locomotives. Yet despite its many triumphs, electrification of U.S. railroads failed to achieve the wide application that once was so confidently predicted. By the 1970s, it was the Soviet Union, with almost 22,000 electrified route-miles, that led the way, and the U.S. had declined to 17th place.