Physical Social Engineering Tools: Lock Picking and Shims

From Learn to be a true Social Engineer

Lock picking can be a tool that is useful to social engineers under the right circumstance.

Web Resources

LockWiki

One of the primary resources for lock picking information is the lock wiki^[1] which details many different aspects of lock picking.

TOOOL

One of the largest site to visit on information on lock picking is TOOOL^[2]. Although lock picking might not be a pure form of social engineering, physical security is an important aspect of a social engineer's career. Learning how to pick locks can be useful for gaining access to companies, file cabinets, offices or other areas that will hold the information you seek. Practice kits like these^[3] can be found all over the web.

Deviant at Defcon

Here^[4] is a very long video of a Defcon speech by Deviant showing many forms of lock picking.

Tools

Shove Knife

Another tool that can be used if lock picking is not your cup of tea is a Shove Knife^[5]. They are also a common tool, allowing one that may not have the skills to pick locks to enter a locked location more quickly. ^[6]

Bump Keys

Bump Keys^[7] are another aspect of lock picking that have been around for a very long time, but just now getting a lot of play in the market. A bump key as demonstrated here^[8] in this news report can allow a person access to an even difficult lock with little to no effort.

Shims

This video shows a very crude method of making a shim, which is another tool for lock pickers.

Conclusion

Our framework here only scratches the surface of lock picking since it is not a pure social engineer tactic, but merely a tool.

References

1. ↑ http://www.lockwiki.com/index.php/Main_Page
2. ↑ http://toool.us/
3. ↑ http://toool.us/equipment.html
4. ↑ http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8536478434720082857&ei=8sKpSrG0J5jqqwK4tsytAw&q=lock+picking+physical+security&hl=en#
5. ↑ http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_use_a_shove_knife
6. ↑ http://www.thefirestore.com/store/product.cfm/pid_1177_6_shove_knife/
7. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lock_bumping
8. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr23tpWX8lM