Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Robot cracks open safe live on Def Con's stage

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 122 posts

Re: Robot cracks open safe live on Def Con's stage

#11

Post by DrScump »

thesmallestcat wrote: post #5

Somebody dumb enough to leave a key to their house right next to their house in a city like SF deserves to get burglarized.

Gotta love this attitude, which is widely shared by Bay Area media and law enforcement.

- "You shouldn't have parked there. "

- "You shouldn't have left anything visible in your vehicle."

- "You shouldn't have left anything invisible in the trunk, either."

As for "key right next to house" how else do you propose letting agents show your property to prospective buyers or tenants?

In SF, property crimes don't matter. I once had a road rager shoot at me and blow a window out in my car. SFPD response? "We can't find the round (bullet), so we'll just give you a case number (and no further investigation)."

Edit: typo

Re: Robot cracks open safe live on Def Con's stage

#12

Post by abelM »

thesmallestcat wrote: post #10
maxerickson wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about all the houses with doors that won't stand up to a sledgehammer? Or unbarred windows.

There's a big difference between forced and unforced entry.

I wonder, what would be the charge in this situation ?

Re: Robot cracks open safe live on Def Con's stage

#13

Post by Pinckney »

p4lindromica wrote: post #7
Pinckney wrote: post #2

It's a cool robot, but auto-dialers are a known tool in safecracking. Additionally, the safe in question seems to be a SentrySafe SF082CS, which caries NO security rating from UL. The lowest test rating, RSC, only requires the safe survive a 5 minute attack with hand tools.

How do I find a UL-security-rated safe? Does it matter if I don't bolt it to the floor?

I'm far from an expert, but the common ratings to look for are UL RSC, TL-15, or TL-30 depending on what level of protection you want. The ratings are expensive, so generally vendors show them off prominently.

Not bolting it down does make it much easier to steal. A small safe like this can be carried off pretty easily. Even with a large safe, being able to move it can make it easier to use a pry-bar or to cut through a side-panel.

Re: Robot cracks open safe live on Def Con's stage

#17

Post by throwaway76543 »

anindha wrote: post #4

So many people in SF leave their house keys in those 3 digit combination locks for Wag dog walkers. Something like this could crack that in seconds.

A typical front door lock is considerably easier to defeat than the mechanism on one of these safes. Many can be opened in seconds with a bump key or other pick tools.

Re: Robot cracks open safe live on Def Con's stage

#18

Post by maxerickson »

thesmallestcat wrote: post #10
maxerickson wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about all the houses with doors that won't stand up to a sledgehammer? Or unbarred windows.

There's a big difference between forced and unforced entry.

Beyond the "un", what's the difference in San Francisco?

Re: Robot cracks open safe live on Def Con's stage

#20

Post by natch »

0xbear wrote: post #16

Aren't there a whole bunch of videos on YouTube of kids opening these with not much more than a length of steel wire and primitive hand tools? You decidedly do not want a safe that's not UL listed.

Think of this as version 1.0 of the robot, though.

Unlike hand tools, the improvement curve of such robots will be interesting to watch over time. [Edit: especially to the extent that the improvement is partly in the innovative hands of the hacker / maker community as opposed to just a few commercial companies as with existing "speed dialers."]

Post reply on HN