Staying safe in all aspects of life is important and ensuring you are the safest while at home is the most crucial. While having (and properly using) the locks on your door is helpful in keeping intruders out, it shouldn’t be your only line of defence.
The truth of the matter is, unless you invest in some heavy duty deadbolts for your doors, locks can be be picked fairly easily, and not just by those who spend time trying to break into homes regularly. Here are some ways in which someone may be able to bypass/break your lock to gain access to your home:
• Bump keys: A bump key is like a regular key, with slots for the pins filed far enough down to fit any lock. A quick bump is all it takes to line up every pin in a lock and open it. It’s scary easy. While each bump key still has to match the profile ridges, most home locks use only a few key shapes to begin with. Bump keys can be made from regular blank keys you find at your local hardware store or you can buy ready-made bump keys online. Hell, you can even 3D print bump keys, if you were so inclined. A thief with a few of these on his key ring could easily open most home locks. Worse yet, he might not even look like he’s breaking in. He might just look like he’s fiddling with a particularly stubborn lock.
• Lock snapping: Some locks are vulnerable to a particularly nasty type of attack called lock snapping. With this technique, applying a small amount of pressure in the right way would actually break a lock in half, rendering it useless. This is a big problem in certain parts of the UK, where many homes were equipped with fragile cylinder locks that could be broken with minimal force. This technique was so common, professional thieves wouldn’t bother picking the lock. Most locks aren’t going to be vulnerable to this type of attack, but by the time it was discovered, millions of homes already had these flawed locks installed.
• Credit cards: If you’ve ever wondered why you need a deadbolt on top of a regular lock, it’s because of this. With the credit card method, you can wedge a small, flat piece of plastic in between the door and its frame. If the lock you’re opening has a slanted edge (which allows you to close an already-locked door behind you), you can force it open enough to pry the door open. Deadbolts don’t have this slanted edge and must be locked using a key, so they can’t be opened this way. Yes, this is the method used in every movie and TV show ever, and yes it does actually work sometimes. (Eric Ravenscraft, lifehacker.com)
Having a secure lock should only be one part of your home’s security plan. At Henderson Security your Ottawa home/business security professional we’ll work closely with you to develop a safety plan that’s within your budget and gives you the ultimate peace of mind.