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Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

lockitron.com

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Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#61

Post by eggbrain »

trotsky wrote: post #21

relies on your phone working 2.4 Ghz your internet connection your power their datacenter their website software to avoid carrying a key? anyone in the area could easily ddos off your wireless more or less permanently by spamming disconnect. doesn't seem like a very good risk/reward ratio to me. whats the problem with a more traditional (read local) keyless approach? door too thick?

Why use a car? Relies on:

  Gas to run
  You making sure everything is well maintained
  Expensive vs biking
  Auto mechanics needed if your car breaks down
Anyone in your area could easily steal your car or explode it rendering it useless.

Doesn't seem like a very good risk/reward ratio to me.

Kidding aside, you must not have read very carefully, since it has NFC and Bluetooth as backups. The DDOS scenario would require a targeted attack, and wouldn't render it useless anyways as per the above. The device works for renters who can't change their lock, but still want some convenience.

Yes, it has some drawbacks. But I think it is an incredibly well thought out device that I'm jumping on.

Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#62

Post by eco »

nollidge wrote: post #49
trotsky wrote: post #21

relies on your phone working 2.4 Ghz your internet connection your power their datacenter their website software to avoid carrying a key? anyone in the area could easily ddos off your wireless more or less permanently by spamming disconnect. doesn't seem like a very good risk/reward ratio to me. whats the problem with a more traditional (read local) keyless approach? door too thick?

Or bluetooth or NFC, which to me are far more enticing.

The website says it works with both Bluetooth and NFC.

Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#63

Post by trotsky »

eggbrain wrote: post #61
trotsky wrote: post #21

relies on your phone working 2.4 Ghz your internet connection your power their datacenter their website software to avoid carrying a key? anyone in the area could easily ddos off your wireless more or less permanently by spamming disconnect. doesn't seem like a very good risk/reward ratio to me. whats the problem with a more traditional (read local) keyless approach? door too thick?

Why use a car? Relies on: Gas to run You making sure everything is well maintained Expensive vs biking Auto mechanics needed if your car breaks down Anyone in your area could easily steal your car or explode it rendering it useless. Doesn't seem like a very good risk/reward ratio to me. Kidding aside, you must not have read very carefully, since it has NFC and Bluetooth as backups. The DDOS scenario would require a t…

wouldn't it be more like why make a coal driven steam engine when diesel models had been out for 30 years?

Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#64

Post by catch23 »

apawloski wrote: post #54
catch23 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

probably not. it uses an arduino mega according to the video, so you'd need serial access to reprogram the arduino.

From the FAQ [1]: "However, if you would like to access Lockitron only via your local network, then we welcome you to flash your base-station with a new image that gives you full access to develop as you see fit" https://lockitron.com/faq Obviously I've done about as much research as you so far, so it's very possible the scenario that I describe is unlikely. The point of my initial post was simply to reflect on the f…

right. but it doesn't say how it is flashed -- perhaps it requires you to hook up via usb?

I can understand people's fear of technology when it is used for security purposes, but if someone wanted to break in, there are easier ways than flashing the base station. All someone would need to do is take a picture of your physical key and they'll be able to make an identical one.

Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#65

Post by rflrob »

Looks like a really cool product, but as a note to the marketing department: the product itself looks just a little bit too much like an iPhone. I got confused for a moment, and thought the device was an iPhone with a picture of the deadbolt on it. There's probably a way to make the materials somewhat clearer that the Lockitron is the big square bit, and not the C-shaped mounting adapter.

Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#66

Post by cs702 »

Great idea. However, I can't help but think that if Lockitron gains meaningful adoption, the various organized-crime groups operating on the web will try to hack the company's backend retrieve lock usage and location data or even gain the ability remotely to open customer locks. (Criminals already pay for stolen credit card information on the web; they would readily pay for lock usage and location data too. How valuable would it be for thieves to know when other people in their own city leave their homes?)

I would want to understand how Lockitron might use and secure my lock-usage, location, and other personal information before using the device and service to lock anything important, like my office or my house.

Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#67

Post by veemjeem »

psychotik wrote: post #35
plusbryan wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, it'd be about guest access. Sure, you could give out your codes, and then change them later, but that's a pain (with the Schlage products at least).

FWIW, I find it simple enough to add/remove codes as needed. I can see how punching ~15 buttons can be a pain, but I don't find it so.

I think the main benefit here is that it works with your existing lock, so it could work on apartments, dorm rooms, office doors, etc. Those key code deadlocks have always existed, but never very popular.

Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#68

Post by eggbrain »

trotsky wrote: post #63
eggbrain wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why use a car? Relies on: Gas to run You making sure everything is well maintained Expensive vs biking Auto mechanics needed if your car breaks down Anyone in your area could easily steal your car or explode it rendering it useless. Doesn't seem like a very good risk/reward ratio to me. Kidding aside, you must not have read very carefully, since it has NFC and Bluetooth as backups. The DDOS scenario would require a t…

wouldn't it be more like why make a coal driven steam engine when diesel models had been out for 30 years?

The device offers many features current lock-and-key models don't, and can be used by a wide variety of people (whereas you cant use custom locks for apartments). Your analogy above really makes no sense.

But going back to your original post, at least two of your drawbacks were wrong, and the others seemed to be nay saying for simply the joy of doing so. A DDOS attack on someones wireless to stop them from getting in?

  A) Something that wouldn't have affected the lock since Bluetooth and NFC works

  B) A targeted scenario that might as well be "well locks don't protect against rocks thrown through windows!
Why use a laptop to write notes (that requires your laptop to have power/working correctly) when a simple pen and paper will do? We can trivialize anything using that methodology.

Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#70

Post by htmltablesrules »

pg wrote: post #10

We use Lockitron on our offices and it has saved us a lot of trouble. Empirically people are a lot less likely to forget their phone than to forget keys, presumably because you use your phone for so many other things whereas most keys do nothing but get you into a single building.

Empirically? Where is the research?
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