41–50 of 118 posts
Reminds me of the time I was playing a computer game, and right at the beginning you are presented with a door 5-digit combination lock. The objective of the game was to explore the game world and eventually discover all 5 digits of the code. First time I played the game I just randomly entered 5 digits, and the door unlocked.
Myst series?
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".
We of course wouldn't have heard about it if it wasn't succesful. The real odds are "how many safes are there like this that people are trying all over the world, and what's the chance that someone at ONE of them would succeed." :)
1 in 216000... seems like you could build some robotic device to brute force that pretty easily... or you know, introduce it to a thermic lance. EDIT: sorry, my research suggests that safe-cracking with thermic lances is plausible but not practical (source; Mythbusters, of course)
The safe itself was the exhibition piece that was valuable to the museum. Destroying it just to get at its unknown but probably boring contents would have been pointless.
This must be the most American thing ever. 40 year old stuff treated like they're ancient.
If the combination does allow for wiggle room and the 1 in 8000 figure is correct, the code could have been brute forced in a couple hours. Source: my wife has a habit of forgetting the combination to her 3 digit luggage lock and I had to brute force it a few times (it's surprisingly quick, about 15 minutes) :)
I bruteforced a 4-digit 2FA in 2 days, of course with the help of a small script instead of trying it myself. It's always fun to see dumb solutions work.
> "They have no value really, but they are of great interest to us. It gives us a little bit of idea of what the places were like in 1977, '78," said Mr Kibblewhite. This must be the most American thing ever. 40 year old stuff treated like they're ancient.
If the combination does allow for wiggle room and the 1 in 8000 figure is correct, the code could have been brute forced in a couple hours. Source: my wife has a habit of forgetting the combination to her 3 digit luggage lock and I had to brute force it a few times (it's surprisingly quick, about 15 minutes) :)
Made me realise that my university mailbox wasn't actually that secure ...
http://www.openculture.com/2013/04/learn_how_richard_feynman...
since they have (essentially) infinite time, why couldn't they attach a machine that tries all possible combinations? feels like something that someone from the high school robotics club could come up with.
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.