Live data from Hacker News

Tourist's lucky guess cracks safe code on first try

bbc.co.uk

1–10 of 118 posts

Re: Tourist's lucky guess cracks safe code on first try

#2
A combination "20 - 40 - 60" on a dial that goes from 1 to 60... Sounds like an equivalent of a factory-default admin/admin login credentials. I wonder if it really was the default combination that the safe was bought with, and the owners never bothered to change it. :)

Re: Tourist's lucky guess cracks safe code on first try

#3
post #2

A combination "20 - 40 - 60" on a dial that goes from 1 to 60... Sounds like an equivalent of a factory-default admin/admin login credentials. I wonder if it really was the default combination that the safe was bought with, and the owners never bothered to change it. :)

Ha yes, or equivalent to 'password'. Raises the point that humans interacting with machines will always display similar behaviours.

Re: Tourist's lucky guess cracks safe code on first try

#4
"The fact that the combination was in a specific pattern and did not appear to be a random combination of numbers could also factor into a calculation of the odds, he added."

Hehe. I guess he'll have to produce a list of non-random numbers to work those odds out.

Re: Tourist's lucky guess cracks safe code on first try

#5
post #2

A combination "20 - 40 - 60" on a dial that goes from 1 to 60... Sounds like an equivalent of a factory-default admin/admin login credentials. I wonder if it really was the default combination that the safe was bought with, and the owners never bothered to change it. :)

>The museum had previously enlisted the help of experts to crack the code, tried default combinations, and had contacted former hotel employees to see if they could help.

It doesn't sound like it was the default, just a "password1" situation.

Re: Tourist's lucky guess cracks safe code on first try

#6
post #5
post #2

A combination "20 - 40 - 60" on a dial that goes from 1 to 60... Sounds like an equivalent of a factory-default admin/admin login credentials. I wonder if it really was the default combination that the safe was bought with, and the owners never bothered to change it. :)

>The museum had previously enlisted the help of experts to crack the code, tried default combinations, and had contacted former hotel employees to see if they could help. It doesn't sound like it was the default, just a "password1" situation.

Ah, I missed that bit, thanks!

Re: Tourist's lucky guess cracks safe code on first try

#8
post #3
post #2

A combination "20 - 40 - 60" on a dial that goes from 1 to 60... Sounds like an equivalent of a factory-default admin/admin login credentials. I wonder if it really was the default combination that the safe was bought with, and the owners never bothered to change it. :)

Ha yes, or equivalent to 'password'. Raises the point that humans interacting with machines will always display similar behaviours.

Puts me in mind of Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman...

Re: Tourist's lucky guess cracks safe code on first try

#9
post #7

If the code was 20-40-60 and the "enlisted help of experts" failed to crack it, then said experts are not really up to scratch.

>The odds of Mr Mills correctly guessing the combination are pretty long, says the University of Toronto's Jeffrey Rosenthal, author of Knock on Wood: Luck, Chance, and the Meaning of Everything.

>He calculated the chance of correctly guessing the combination on one try as 1 in 216,000. (His calculation assumed the safe numbers actually ran from one to 60).

Glad they managed to find an expert with the calculating skill to clear up that other enigma as well.

Re: Tourist's lucky guess cracks safe code on first try

#10
post #2

A combination "20 - 40 - 60" on a dial that goes from 1 to 60... Sounds like an equivalent of a factory-default admin/admin login credentials. I wonder if it really was the default combination that the safe was bought with, and the owners never bothered to change it. :)

> A combination "20 - 40 - 60" on a dial that goes from 1 to 60... Sounds like an equivalent of a factory-default admin/admin login credentials.

The article explains that it was a common combination for people to use on this type of safe - "Typical combination lock, three times clockwise - 20 - two times counterclockwise - 40 - once clockwise - 60, tried the handle and it went".

Post reply on HN