LOLBitcoin - The Way of the Lockpicker
So those of you in Vegas for Black Hat / BSidesLV / DEFCON this year may have noticed these mysterious LOL boxen floating around Tuesday - Thursday. For those unfamiliar, these were one of the potential stage 2 paths in the challenge to earn entry into I)ruid's epic LOLBitcoin party. a13k and I each carried one of these boxes, and they went wherever we went throughout the con...leading up to the Thursday night party. After solving stage 1's puzzle on the LOLBitcoin cards, competitors were presented with a number of paths to complete stage 2. The path I had the pleasure of organizing this year was the Way of the Lockpicker.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX?
If you were skilled enough to pick both locks securing the conspicuous yellow pelican case you'd find... yet another pelican case, and an even stronger lock. Pop the final lock to find a seemingly empty case, but looking closely revealed the coveted email address to access stage 3.
So what locks were used? On the outside of each LOL case I put a Brinks 40mm padlock (top left) and a Master no.140 (top right). Inside, securing the smaller case with a custom grommeted strap was an American 5200 padlock (bottom). Since this was the Way of the Lockpicker I expected a certain level of skill from successful competitors, so each of these locks had security pins to make things more difficult.
Master no.140
This lock needs no introduction to the average lockpicker. The Master no.140 is a 4-pin brass padlock with multiple spool security pins. This is often the first security pin lock that hobbyist lockpickers hone their skills on because of its ubiquity.
Brinks 40mm
This is a 5-pin lock with multiple security pins. Even though it adds a pin compared to the no.140, I found that the key bitting on this particular lock was fairly straightforward, so I considered the two locks to be relatively on par. Some folks had more trouble with this one than the no.140, I personally found it less difficult.
American 5200
This was the final lock guarding the inner case. I'm a big fan of this lock. In addition to being 5 pins with multiple security pins, this lock (and many American locks) have tighter tolerances and are just more difficult in general to pick. With these locks if you don't figure out how to apply good torsion, you won't get good feedback and picking will be much harder. There's a gap under the left warding in the bottom of the keyway and the inexperienced picker's torsion wrench will slide under this warding, causing a non-circular torsion to be applied that actually works against the picker. One trick I've added to my arsenal for these locks is to stick a paperclip into this gap before inserting your torsion wrench, which will cause the wrench to apply cleaner torsion. Once you get that down, it's a matter of carefully picking through multiple false sets before it pops. Also of note, this padlock uses ball bearings instead of a spring-loaded component to lock the shackle, so padlock shims would be useless at this stage.
That's all, folks. See everyone next year!
- jgor
Longhorn Lockpicking Club
Locksport International
