Kensington Laptop Locks Not So Secure 526
eric434 writes "According to a security alert released by Security.Org, the Kensington laptop lock that many of us use and love isn't secure. In fact, it can be opened in 30 seconds after about a minute of practice with a $1 worth of equipment. (A Bic pen, and a pair of scissors. In the interest of giving people some time to stop using the locks, the actual method of opening the lock is left up to the reader.)
To make matters worse, Kensington's 'We'll give you $1500 if someone steals your laptop' guarantee doesn't apply -- because the process of opening the lock doesn't damage the lock or cable." Mind the source, though -- security.org wouldn't mind selling you a book on locks and safes.
That's a horrible "warranty" .... (Score:4, Insightful)
If you use this Kensington lock and your laptop gets jacked, use a pair of bolt cutters and damage your cable before filing your claim.
Wire Cutters (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Wire Cutters (Score:5, Insightful)
However, I'm sure there are tools for this job available at your local Home Depot or other hardware emporium. Just remember to make the cut nice and messy.
I can attest to this fact. (Score:5, Insightful)
Back in 2000 I had one of those Kensington motion sensing laptop locks which gave off this ear-piercing noise if anyone moved the device.
Thing was so insecure that I was playing with it in the airport on a business trip one day and I realized all I had to do was to push the pin inwards and it immediately came off.
Sure, the alam went off too, but it still wouldn't have stopped someone from jetting away and stealing the bag or laptop.
Now, I secure both my laptops (work and personal) the old fashioned way. I never let them leave my sight or I lock them in a locker or the trunk of my car.
Physical controls can't beat plain common sense sometimes when it comes to the security of your personal belongings.
Neer leave a laptop bag in the front-seat or rear-seat of your car iwhere it's in plain sight. That's just begging for someone to smash your window and steal it.
Also, don't carry your laptop around in one of those $200 leather laptop cases. I use a backpack. Sure, it was designed for a laptop but it doesn't look like it was. Maybe I have gym shoes and a change of clothes in there, or maybe I have an iBook, iPod, spare battery, Tréo 600, Passport, etc.
Then again, maybe I don't.
Re:How to make the warranty work for you (Score:3, Insightful)
I have one as a deterant (Score:2, Insightful)
Even so, it prevents someone from just picking it up as they walk by. That's all I ever hoped the cable would do.
Re:That's a horrible "warranty" .... (Score:5, Insightful)
If your laptop, bike, etc ever gets stolen and you try to claim the compensation money from the lock manufacturer, you will find that there are many restrictions on actually getting that money. That is because, as with any other insurance scheme, many unscrupulous people try to get the compensation money by dishonest means. So some genuine theft victims will be deprived of their deserved compensation, whereas other scammers might get away with the money. By and large, though, the majority of consumers are justly rewarded.
Re:Looking at picture of lock (Score:5, Insightful)
Correct.
That method actually works for any/all barrel-type locks, though the better quality ones (e.g. vending machines) will have tighter tolerances and stronger springs making them much more difficult.
Kensington just needs to spend a few more bucks on a higher quality mechanism (preferably with more than 5 pins!! Geez...)
Re:Wire Cutters (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:1500 dollers (Score:2, Insightful)
Or, far more useful. Let's say you have a lot of work stored on your laptop's hard drive. Maybe it was worth more to you than $1500, or even the laptop itself for that matter. You'd still have to go back and redo all your work, not only losing the price of the laptop, but the cost of your time as well.
Obviously, one should be backing up their important information, but that's not always feasible when one is on the go.
Re:Funny lock story from Australia (Score:1, Insightful)
All laptop locks suck! (Score:5, Insightful)
They keep honest people honest. They're speedbumps for the pros. Don't leave you leptop alone!
Reminds me of High School... (Score:3, Insightful)
Basically, there was a metal reciever that was screwed into a rubber/plastic pad that is epoxied to the hardware you want to keep. The cable is slipped through the reciever and then locked to a suitably heavy piece of cheap furniture, while the other end was to large to pass though the reciever However, since the unlocked end was not attached to anything, you simply slacked the cable, then passed the end under and around to unscrew the reciever from the epoxied pad.
It wouldn't have worked if it was riveted instead of screwed, but then again, it's a really a deterrent in the end.
Should read: All locks not so secure (Score:3, Insightful)
Anyone who knows how to pick a lock can open most locks with 5 cents worth of equipment: a couple bent paperclips. Lets write a big story about how all these locks are weak.
So what? The lock is pickable; so are most other locks.
Unless the big story here is about the warrany. The fact they knew the lock is weak, so they worded the warranty in a way to avoid paying up.
Re:"Guarantees replacement" (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:How to make the warranty work for you (Score:3, Insightful)
Locks are meant to scare away pro. thieves... (Score:5, Insightful)
What locks ARE good for, is deterring the casual thief. Someone who spots a notebook untattended in a library, a cafe, an office, sees that no one around... And grabs it. They're not likely to pick a lock or cut a cable. Since this is far, far more likely-- unless someone is really casing you for the info. on the computer-- it does make sense to use a lock.
Re:Funny lock story from Australia (Score:5, Insightful)
I drive a very common and not very valuable car (Ford Focus), and when I put my Club on I don't even bother to lock it. All I'm counting on is a thief noticing it and deciding he'd rather steal the Clubless car next to mine.
It's like the two guys running from the bear. I don't have to outrun the bear, just the other guy. With my car, I don't have to defeat the crook. I just have to be tougher than the car beside mine.
Re:How to make the warranty work for you (Score:3, Insightful)
The magic reference number (which is what they hand out in the state of New South Wales (where Sydney is) Australia) is all you need to satisfy the insurance claim. You get extra bonus points if you know the copper's name and can write that on the form too, but it's not required.
Re:How to make the warranty work for you (Score:5, Insightful)
Who said anything about perjury? Your laptop got stolen, didn't it? So go report that your laptop got stolen. Refer my previous post - the coppers couldn't give a flying fire-truck *how* your laptop got stolen, they won't ask, and they *REALLY* don't want to hear about it (they already heard the same story a dozen times today from folks who just *needed* to tell *someone* and assumed that cops cared). Be a good citizen, give the cops the info they need for their statistics, and be on your way. It's easier for everyone that way.
'course if your laptop *didn't* get stolen and you're reporting that it did - well that's a whole different kettle of fish.
Re:How to make the warranty work for you (Score:3, Insightful)
In general, the prices offered by major wireless carriers are meaningless. If you want to know what a cell phone is worth, try buying a new, unlocked (use on any carrier, thus not subsidized) phone of recent vintage from an independant shop - you won't find much for $50
Re:How to make the warranty work for you (Score:4, Insightful)
You're showing definite signs of having watched too much American television my boy! In real life, they only screw about with the DNA analysis and fingerprints if (a) someone got killed and (b) the press are hassling a suitably highly placed politician over it. In the rest of real life, no-one has the funds or the time to fingerprint everything, and the cops certainly aren't going to bother investigating a stolen laptop.
Clean take-away vs Vandalism? (Score:4, Insightful)
Better you just let the a-hole take it and get some some use out of it, I'd say.
On the other hand, if you are actually watching it (I mean, who locks a laptop and leaves it somewhere?) prolly nothing will happen to it.
This is analogous to the $500 damage someone does to your car to pull a stereo that has a $20 street value.
I am just rambling now... but what good is a laptop cable anyhow? Seems to me you have a couple of scenarios; A cable might work if you don't quite trust your roommate or his friends, I guess. Otherwise, forget it. You are in a "safe" environment, or not.
Bottom line, if you leave something valuable where folks might steal that something, it will get stolen, sooner or later.
I know, I've had much damage done to cars for little apparent gain for the thief. On the other hand I leave "tens of dollars" worth (but no more) of stuff on the sand when I am at the beach (add it up - towel(s), backpack, sunscreen...) with no ill results, so I am not totally paranoid, but not stupid either.
Re:Reminds me of High School... (Score:3, Insightful)
Pros are far less common than many people think, it's the low skill, casual, impulse criminals that you generally want to protect against. I mean a lock on your door is a joke. Unless you are weird like me and have a Medeco high security lock or similar system, your lock is easy to pick. However, most theives do not know how to pick locks, so a locked door goes a long way to keeping them out.
Re:I can attest to this fact. (Score:3, Insightful)
Pedant heal thyself (Score:3, Insightful)
Main Entry: product
Pronunciation: 'prä-"d&kt
Function: noun
1 : the result of work or thought
2 a : the output of an industry or firm b : a thing created by manufacturing
3 in the civil law of Louisiana : something (as timber or a mineral) that is derived from something else and that diminishes the substance of the thing from which it is derived --compare FRUIT 2a
Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
dictionary.com
Re:I can attest to this fact. (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:lying to police is a bad idea. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Clean take-away vs Vandalism? (Score:3, Insightful)
If you lock a laptop up tight enough but don't watch it, someone may just stuck a pencil thru your LCD to spite you. That's what I would do if I were in a pissy mood and unable to steal your laptop that I was otherwise planning on taking (which I wasn't, if you were wondering.)
Better you just let the a-hole take it and get some some use out of it, I'd say
I'd rather have a damaged laptop and get to keep my data.
Re:How to make the warranty work for you (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Clean take-away vs Vandalism? (Score:3, Insightful)
Replacing the LCD is a lot cheaper than having your business competitor scrolling through your 5-year business strategy, or some swarthy individual gloating over his newest acquisition from the Los Alamos on-campus diner.
At least have OpenOffice on it.
Re:Hmm..... (Score:3, Insightful)
Plus, if you use pliers to open a lock like this, it will be visible, giving away the fact that there has been unauthorized access. A similar idea I've heard of is gluing a hard-drive cable to the motherboard and hd. You could get it off and access the data, but you can't do it without being noticed.
Re:1500 dollers (Score:3, Insightful)
Self destructing hardware is more of a liability than an assest. If something is sensitive enought to require this sort of protection, then: 1) It shouldn't come in easy-to-carry sizes, and 2) the risk (and cost) of accidental destruction is probably greater than the risk of actual theft.
just playing devils advocate (Score:4, Insightful)