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Getting Started with Lockpicking

blog.yaelwrites.com

41–45 of 45 posts

Re: Getting Started with Lockpicking

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In some I'm sure he does, but there are some videos of him receiving a sealed package and opening the package (and the lock inside) in a single take. Like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSuaUok-wTY

Who's to tell he didn't send the package to himself? I'm probably too cynic... I find it odd he hasn't ever found a lock that would defeat him (I didn't watch all his videos though).

If you have sustained access to any lock (and have the skills/tooling) it's only a matter of time. It will only slow down a determined attacker. It's entirely plausible there is no lock that could defeat him.

That said, a good security system will have multiple (nested) zones and multiple controls to defeat in each zone - picking a lock by itself should not be enough to gain access, and you should not be able to get to the lock to begin with without being spotted or setting off alarms and triggering a police response.

Re: Getting Started with Lockpicking

#42
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd note that for a motorcycle disc brake I wouldn't complain about this. If it takes a lockpicking artist more than a minute to pick it while being able to move it around in three dimensions it would take so time on the street too.

Totally. I don’t think LPL really evaluates the rest of the lock either. How is the drill protection? How does it hold up to an angle grinder?

I think he sometimes cut the cord on some devices just to prove that that is even simpler. Or is that someone else?

Re: Getting Started with Lockpicking

#43
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, ideally you have a breaking break-in so that you have evidence for the insurance that you have, in fact, been broken into. Best to have a lock that is easier to break than to pick IMO. But yeah, the base premise is that it should avoid crimes of opportunity. Like the steel cables to lock laptops and screens to tables; they won't stand up for a pair of sturdy snips, but they can't be snatched up quickly.

For people willing to commit insurance fraud putting a few scratches on the lock and door to make it look legit isn't really that much of an effort. Are insurance companies actually conditioning their conclusion based on this kind of evidence? The real value of a lock that's hard to pick is that it forces the burglar to carry more tools and use noisier, time consuming methods. All of this makes the break-in far more…

Not the comment you replied to, but the parent comment.

I agree with what you said, but I wanted to put in the context of what I wrote. Unless your windows and doors have actual anti burglar features, the lock doesn't matter at all. A large screwdriver is often enough to force a window open and a pry bar will make short work of a door. Not until those have been properly secured does the lock matter. And according to some insurance companies in Denmark, thieves does not pick locks anyway. They use a method of force.

Re: Getting Started with Lockpicking

#44
I've enjoyed learning, inspired by DeviantOllam and LPL. The clear practice locks are amazing for getting you used to the process. I haven't managed to pick anything that isn't see-through yet, but I enjoy trying.

The highlight of my "career" though was when an escape room we played had an optional lockpicking challenge. It turned out to just be a clear practice lock which I got through it with no trouble, and then proceeded to pick a pair of handcuffs that apparently I wasn't supposed to pick. I had never tried before, but it really was as easy as it looks on TV. (they gave me a lockpick but apparently I'm not supposed to use it? there was an actual handcuff key inside one of the other locked boxes)

Re: Getting Started with Lockpicking

#45
post #29

Somehow my 11 year old got interested in lockpicking (maybe happened upon LPL?). So I got him a kit consisting of a clear-bodied lock and picking tools. He had mastered it within a couple of hours. Then he taught me. And since them we've picked every pad lock and door lock in our house. The biggest and meanest looking ones turned out to be all bluff and the easiest to pick. I hadn't thought that it might be illegal w…

Illegal to pick your own locks? Huh?

Not sure, but owning lock picking tools might be illegal. But as I have since learned, many locks are easy to pick with a paper clip.
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