Keys...
Let this be a lesson to anyone who has a lodger.
Speak unto your local locksmith the following words "restricted keyset".
The locks cost a lot more, but as a result of the restriction, they can't be copied by any tom dick or harry without your prior consent.
Oh, and occupancy sensors can be handy for hallway lighting.
( Alex Save a Tree, Eat a Beaver!, Mon 10 Jan 2011, 0:50, 1 reply)

Not a bad idea
...but since then, if I were to do it again (which I'm not), I have installed home-made, remote central locking. So all I'd have to do now is give her a remote key fob.
I'd like to see the daft bat copy one of those!
(dchurch bah, Mon 10 Jan 2011, 7:54, closed)

remote key fob copying?
easy as getting a key cut these days.
there's a guy near me who does them for a tenner a pop.
( blaireau69 , the Cumbrian Travis Bickle., Mon 10 Jan 2011, 9:47, closed)

I doubt
that they would be able to copy these easily.
(dchurch bah, Mon 10 Jan 2011, 20:25, closed)

maybe yours are super high tech encripted etc but that's not gonna count for much if someone wants in.
maybe the guy close to me couldn't copy it but i wouldn't bet against someone else being able to, for very little money.
every time security providers come up with something new the security compromisers are just behind them.
hackers of the world unite etc.
( blaireau69 , the Cumbrian Travis Bickle., Mon 10 Jan 2011, 21:57, closed)

They'd
have to be extremely lucky to get these cloned.

I'm not saying no-one could get in, they could simply break a window if they wanted to, but the key fob, they couldn't clone. I have a controller that synchs with the server every 30 seconds. If the key fob can't see the server, it doesn't get the key, if it can't match the key with the controller, then the magnet doesn't get tripped and the door won't open.
To be cloned they'd have to get the same 1024 bit key within 30 seconds of it changing (it changes on the server every 30 seconds) and be in range of my house whilst they cloned it and create a private key on the key fob. Even if they had the public key, there's nothing in it that could help anyone determine the private key.
To put it simply, it's a private-public key pairing that changes every 30 seconds.
I have nothing that warrants that level of security, but I did it to see if I could.
(dchurch bah, Tue 11 Jan 2011, 17:46, closed)

seems like a hell of a lot of trouble (and probably expense) to go to for the illusion of security.
don't take that the wrong way but i find it hard to believe that you went to all that bother only to see if you could do it. never underestimate the power of the sub-conscious.
and for all the supersizing (?) of the system security i'd be amazed if every un-thought of eventuality had been thought of...

edit: i've just re-read that and i didn't mean to sound so cunty!
it's just that i've yet to experience a technology that truley lives up to the hype. history's littered with it.
( blaireau69 , the Cumbrian Travis Bickle., Tue 11 Jan 2011, 21:12, closed)

Too true
...I like to tinker with things like that - at work I do similar things so am always interested in learning new ways of doing things like it, and the problem is they never get finished. To start with it was simply a key fob from an electric gate that got remade into central locking for home, then it turned into a fingerprint reader, but that was shite, so went back to the key fob, then I started to make my own key fob....etc.....and after many incarnations, I ended up with what I have now, which is the private/public key pairing.
It was the same with the home automation - to start with all I wanted was a way of turning off the lights/tv/amp if I'd forgotten or fallen asleep.
Now it's a full blown home automation system with 'holiday mode' (random opening of curtains and turning on/off lights between predetermined hours), Tv recording, camera recording in most rooms on motion detected, auto window closing if the humidity goes above certain levels etc...
(dchurch bah, Wed 12 Jan 2011, 18:24, closed)

fuck me, tinkering isn't the word!
i've lost count of the number of "stalled" projects littering my unit and home. i'm so like my old pal mike vortex in that respect.
i'm like a fucking amoeba, i expand to occupy whatever space i have with the fruits of my industry.
( blaireau69 , the Cumbrian Travis Bickle., Wed 12 Jan 2011, 21:42, closed)