From: pvmason@cco.caltech.edu (Peter V. Mason)
Subject: Re: Card Key Locks
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 23:38:28 GMT

In article <1992Sep12.085720.18344@eskimo.celestial.com> wix@eskimo.celestial.com (Dennis Wicks) writes:
>In article <18nfinINN1qv@bigboote.WPI.EDU> tracker@wpi.WPI.EDU (William L Schongar) writes:
>>rlwst8+@pitt.edu (Robert L Williamson) writes:
>>>I don't know a whole lot about locks but I recently went to Disney World with
>>>a friend and the room keys we were given were simply these plastic cards
>>>with some holes punched in them.  Would it be all that hard to pick one 
>>>of these kind of locks?  Just curious (no I don't plan to break in to 
>>>hotel rooms). 
>>
>> On some models, those holes let LEDs emitted on one side pass through to the
>>detectors on the other. If you block certain holes, the door won't
>>open. It would be rather hard to pick, unless you could get something
>>back towards the solenoid and move that. They're reasonably easy to
>>disassemble from the front if the door is open, but when they took
>>apart the one in my hotel room (No, I didn't do anything to it, the
>>emitter batteries died.) it took them a good 5-10 minutes. And those
>>are people that know exactly what they're doing. Well, at least they
>>thought so.
>>
>> On other hole models there is a 'true' pin system, where it does
>>actually push certain pins. I would think that this would be difficult
>>to pick, due to the sheer number of pins present, and the arrangement.
>>There were about 30 holes in my cardkey, I think it was a Schlage
>>brand cardlock...I could be wrong. 
>>
>> Granted, there are problems with both of these systems, and ways they
>>can be bypassed. The former one can be outdone by collecting enough
>>keys, and stacking them up. What's left is a pattern of holes that's
>>the base pattern for the master key. Normally they modify that by
>>putting one hole in an obscure corner, just to annoy you.
>>
>> They normally keep the keys for the pin-card system, so you can't
>>stack them too easily to check for patterns. It would be incredibly
>>simple to make copies of either kind of key though.
>>
>>-Tracker
>>
>>
>
>I encountered a similar system in Reno some years ago except that it
>used a magnetic striped card, rather a cheap flimsy affair.  The desk
>clerk said to let them know if we lost one of the keys and they would
>change the code.  I finally found out that the locks were actually
>computer controlled and the cards were encoded at the checkin desk.
>There were also no room numbers or the name of the hotel on the card.
>That one sounds impossible to pick, and would also allow changing the
>master codes on an hourly basis if need be.  Or even just assigning
>each employee a personal code and enabling access on as as needed
>basis.
> 
>Dennis

I recently stayed in a hotel with punch hole card keys.  The desk clerk
told me some things about their system
1. There is a microprocessor in the lock
2. The management can insert a reader intot he card slot and 
tell what keys ahve been used to open the lock when.
3. The desk clerk can give a special one-entry key to a delivery person.
(His example was a florist making a delivery before occupant arrives.
The use of ths key will be tracked by the reader in 2.  
4. The key I was given enters the code for the key of the next user.
I'm a little vague about this, but the implication was clearly
that they do not need to go to the room to change the key for
the next occupant. 
Sounds pretty good for security.  You can tell who entered the room
when, so if something is missing and you can pin down the time,
you have a pretty good cahnce of catching the thief.  It also sounds
like something the former East German Stazi would love. To say 
nothing of divorce lawyers.

	In fact this sounds a bit like an PBS special I saw about
Singapore.  The card you carry to use the subway, etc. tattle-tales
your usage to a cenrtral computer, so the police have a pretty
good idea where you are at any given time.  I'm going to go
read "1984".  George Orwell was one of our better prophets.
Peter Mason

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