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2024-05-10 14:47:25
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 ciscoubr
 
Location: Charlotte, NC
Gender: Male
 |  | BEST Locks
< on 11/29/2005 2:47 AM >
|  | | | My college campus currently uses BEST-brand locks campus wide to secure the facilities. I'm very interested in exploring tunnels and other closed-off areas. I have blueprints of the buildings, so I know where I'm going.
The school employs both BEST-brand traditional locks (deadbolts, etc) as well as BEST padlocks... Any tips on circumventing these?
Cisco.
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Pravus
Location: Chicago Area
Gender: Male
Now the two key words for tonight - "caution" and "flammable"...
| |  |  | Re: BEST Locks
<Reply # 1 on 11/29/2005 4:27 AM >
| | | | Lockpicks are fun.. a basic 4-5 piece set is all you need
Live to Serve, Serve to Live.. |
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Dressed in Black
Location: Vernon B.C.
Gender: Male
| | Re: BEST Locks
<Reply # 2 on 11/29/2005 5:03 AM >
| | | | I would suggest explosives ;) or giving up. Seriously though, why don't you just steal the key from the janitor.
-DiB |
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MindHacker
Location: Suburbs of DC
Gender: Male
If you spot a terrorist arrow, pin it to the wall with your shoulder.
| | Re: BEST Locks
<Reply # 4 on 11/30/2005 6:21 PM >
|  | | | My school has these too. I actually learned to pick on these. It took prob 1/2 hr the first couple times (dorm room door) but I got the janitor closet lock in <1 min. If only I hadn't slacked off over the summer and lost my touch. Light tension, feeler pick, Im gonna try shimming some for roof access if I can find my shims.
"That's just my opinion. I would, however, advocate for explosive breaching, since speed and looking cool are both concerns in my job."-Wilkinshire |
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grit1
Location: University Campus - Minneapolis, MN
Gender: Male
Got Shear Line?
| | | Re: BEST Locks
<Reply # 5 on 11/30/2005 6:48 PM >
| | | | BEST locks are my obsession and primary interest in locksmithing. In the industry, locks made by Best and other companies are referred to as SFIC or Small Format Interchangeable Core. They have some unique features and operating methods that make them inherently higher security for those who are not up on their tricks.
The Matt Blaze/crypto site that was linked before is a GREAT site to get illustrations of exactly how these intricate little beasts work. It takes some amount of skill to pick them, and they are definitely not a starter lock.
They are standard for large institutions like universities and schools, due to system flexibility, key control and overall stability of the system. My university has over 200 buildings and employ Best cores almost exclusively. The master keying possibilities are staggering, and typically those managing the system will employ a software program that generates and stores all of the codes/bittings/pinnings for the entire system, as the math involved in pinning a large system yourself is very difficult.
All of this technical detail aside, often the best way of infiltrating a system such as this is to obtain a key and find a way to duplicate it - either carefully by hand, or with the aide of a crooked locksmith or hardware store owner. Most of the keys in a Best system will be stamped with "duplication prohibited" or "do not duplicate" to prevent duplication of registered, issued keys. Really, with a little luck, it shouldn't be too hard to obtain a key somebody leaves in a desk drawer or hanging on a lanyard on the wall in a janitor's closet somewhere - after all, human security is the easiest to hack. Borrow it, copy it, return it and noone's the wiser.
My other passion, beyond and related to UE is figuring out the structure of physical locking systems such as extensive BEST systems ... I'm working on my university right now, slowly gaining access to this and that until I figure it all out.
Good luck, don't break the locks and happy picking! ~Grit.
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ciscoubr
Location: Charlotte, NC
Gender: Male
| | Re: BEST Locks
<Reply # 6 on 11/30/2005 10:53 PM >
| | | | It looks like one of the main features of the SFIC system is the ability to remove and replace the cores.
I've looked some of this over and heard a lot about the "control" key?
How feasible would it be to obtain a control key? Beacuse after that, I can just remove the core, go in, and replace the core after I'm finished. No harm done. What's the likelyhood of me getting hold of a control key?
I've got another question as well... in the event that a master key is found missing from wherever it may be stored... what would happen? I can't see the organization rekeying ALL of the locks... so what would be they do?
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grit1
Location: University Campus - Minneapolis, MN
Gender: Male
Got Shear Line?
| | | Re: BEST Locks
<Reply # 7 on 12/1/2005 1:45 AM >
| | | | Posted by ciscoubr
It looks like one of the main features of the SFIC system is the ability to remove and replace the cores.
I've looked some of this over and heard a lot about the "control" key?
How feasible would it be to obtain a control key?
I've got another question as well... in the event that a master key is found missing from wherever it may be stored... what would happen? I can't see the organization rekeying ALL of the locks... so what would be they do?
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The control key does indeed facilitate the tool-less removal of cores for fast changing and rekeying.
The likelihood of you getting ahold of a control key depends entirely on the organization you are dealing with and their security policies. Where I am, only department of central security [DCS] personnel and a handfull of maintenance people have a control key for their area. In terms of social engineering the likelihood of your finding a control key just lying around is not very high...
There is an upside, however. If you can manage to remove a core from it's housing, either by picking, drilling, grinding away the shell etc, and isolate the core by itself, you can derive the control key bitting for at least that set of locks by looking at a set of pins from the core. Refer to Matt Blaze's SFIC white paper for information about how this is done. [the link above].
You are right in that with a control key you can remove the core, use a screwdriver or large key to operate the unguarded mechanism inside the shell and then put the core back in, and nobody will be the wiser.
As far as master keys go, once again it depends on who you're dealing with and what the key operates. Large universities may not notice a key gone missing, or the key may operate SO many locks that they will just hope it was lost and not stolen for malicious purposes.
In some cases there are so many keys out there that one missing won't be missed. There are keys in my university in which the issue number is above 700 - that would be expensive to re-issue that key to all of the key holders.
Good luck with your SFIC hacking! ~Grit.
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ciscoubr
Location: Charlotte, NC
Gender: Male
| | Re: BEST Locks
<Reply # 8 on 12/1/2005 3:34 PM >
| | | | Thanks... one more question... Currently, I have several BEST keys issued to me for different areas. Each of the keys has a 5 digit alphanumeric code on it...
My question is - Are the keys numbered by the organization, or does this code refer to the key cut itself?
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grit1
Location: University Campus - Minneapolis, MN
Gender: Male
Got Shear Line?
| | | Re: BEST Locks
<Reply # 9 on 12/1/2005 5:29 PM >
| | | | A very large percentage of best keys/locks are 6 or 7 pins, so 5 digits doesn't say much. They are probably issue numbers stamped by the institution, and don't correlate to anything but the database of bitting-to-reference numbers. ~Grit.
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JimBoylan
 
Location: SouthEast Pennsylvania, U. S. of A.
Gender: Male
| | Re: BEST Locks
<Reply # 10 on 12/30/2005 10:43 PM >
| | | | | Posted by ciscoubr: several BEST keys. Each has a 5 digit alphanumeric code on it... |
Since BEST says they own the codes, if the stamping looks small and very factory-like professional, the keys were probably bought from BEST already cut to match cores that BEST also supplied pre-stamped and pinned. This lasts until the institution stops having all the work done by the factory and lets someone else rekey the cores!
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MindHacker
Location: Suburbs of DC
Gender: Male
If you spot a terrorist arrow, pin it to the wall with your shoulder.
| | Re: BEST Locks
<Reply # 11 on 12/30/2005 11:39 PM >
| | | | The number is not related to the pinning in a calculable way from what I've observed. It may be but its not intuitively blatant.
You canNOT shim best locks from the front, Don't bother trying.
As far as stealing a masterkey- duplicate it (by hand or @ a shop) and return it (perhaps to hte floor under a desk so it looks like it was dropped. At my school they don't leave them laying around (i've checked) but you could get lucky. Im getting a few best blanks this weekend to have on hand just in case. Im hoping i can dissassemble my door lock and reverse engineer the pinnign for the master. (hopefully its just the lowest pins)
And if you can trace/imprint the key in wax all the better, as its missing for no applicable time.
"That's just my opinion. I would, however, advocate for explosive breaching, since speed and looking cool are both concerns in my job."-Wilkinshire |
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JimBoylan
Location: SouthEast Pennsylvania, U. S. of A.
Gender: Male
| | Re: BEST Locks
<Reply # 12 on 12/30/2005 11:43 PM >
| | | | | Posted by MindHacker: The number is not related to the pinning in a calculable way from what I've observed. |
Code numbers rarely are.
| And if you can trace/imprint the key in wax all the better, as its missing for no applicable time. |
It's a good thing that burglars don't know about micrometers and calipers!
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