Author: Paul Cronin (Partner and Co-Founder)
Anyone who knows me knows that when I’m not involved in IT security, I’m usually messing around with my love of the water: surfing, paddleboarding and wakeboarding. I find surfing, especially, to be a great way to switch off from the hustle and bustle of IT security. I believe it’s important, for mental health, to have a hobby that allows you to completely disconnect from work.
However, there are rare occasions where my surfing crosses over into security. You see, as a surfer, most of us drive vans. Vans, like cars, are not what they used to be in terms of using modern electronic keys to open and lock the doors.
The problem with this type of technology is that when we park our vans on the beach, we have nowhere to safely store our van keys while we’re in the ocean. My current modern VW van uses a standard electronic key with remote unlocking/locking. Even with this basic key, I can’t get it wet as it contains electronics for the immobilizer and remote locking.
What tends to happen is surfers will get a non-remote key cut from a locksmith and place it in our wetsuits (if the vehicle will open using this) or use a mobile combination key safe lock, which is the most popular solution.
I think most people know that these combination locks do not offer the highest level of security, but they are convenient and “slightly” better than hiding the keys to the van under the wheels.
The reason I wrote this blog on this subject is that a few weeks ago, my friends went surfing, locked up their keysafe with their keys, had an awesome surf, and then, for some reason, could not remember the keycode for the safe. He must have banged his head on the board!
Luckily for them, one of the other surfers in the car park happened to have a battery-powered angle grinder in their van, and they were able to quickly open up the safe and retrieve their keys.
So, I wondered how good are these combination key safes and how easy it is for them to be decoded?
Firstly, if you want a good video on how combination locks work, check out Lock Noobs video on YouTube. It provides a great description of how these locks actually work.
The first one I looked at is the Mooncode. This is actually the unit I’ve owned for a few years and seems to be the most popular one that I’ve seen being used. This same unit is still available to buy on Amazon.
Using a standard feeler gauge of 0.15mm and placing the gauge on each wheel, with a bit of practice, I could locate each of the gates and reveal the combination. I did this a few times with my son, getting him to reset the code and having me try to identify it, which typically took me around 3 minutes. I have seen that the manufacturer, Frostfire, has an updated version of this lock, which might have better security defences.
The second one I looked at was the Masterlock Shackle version. This lock is very similar to the locks that you typically find outside holiday lets or Airbnb for guests to retrieve keys. There are many videos on the non-shackle versions of this lock that can be decoded, and I even bought a special decoding tool myself last year to speed up the decoding process on the non-shackle version.
I have been informed that the shackle version has several different variants, all of which can be defeated. I found a number of videos indicating buying or making a modified notched decoding tool. I did have a try at this using a £3 feeler gauge, a hole punch, and a pair of scissors, but I ended up nearly slicing my fingers off (not advised)! However, I found that by using a 0.30 feeler gauge without any modification and sliding it in between the dials, applying pressure down, I could easily, with a bit of practice, find the combination in a couple of minutes. By rotating the dials, you could get a feel for the gates and reveal the combination code. There are plenty of online videos of this lock type on YouTube if you’re interested.
So, not surprisingly, none of these devices offer any great protection. However, I’m not going to stop using mine; I’ll just use it discreetly and hide it. I recently found a company selling hidden panels for VW vans, which sounds like a good option.
I guess it’s better than sticking the keys behind a wheel.
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