By Kurt Seifried (kurt@seifried.org)

Traditionally physical security has been addressed primarily by mechanical locks to control access to places, be they buildings or a specific room. A business would have mechanical locks on all external doors and many internal doors, and these would typically be locked when no-one is around (e.g. at night). Combined with a decent alarm system the mechanical locks would slow an intruder down long enough for them to be detected and for the police to respond in most cases. For areas without an alarm system the locks would ideally discourage the attacker, there is a big difference between kicking in a door and simply turning the knob to see if it’s open.

For centuries (indeed in some areas millennia) this balance held, mechanical locks were effective in discouraging attackers or slowing them down enough to be effective. However a new lock picking technique has changed the balance, potentially rendering most mechanical locks useless.

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