Sosauce: A year in Locksport Journal

A year later in Locksport

2010-03-11T19:14:56Z

Well, hello there. My hope is that rather than a rare post from me, this is my first post "back."

So it's been an interesting 8 months here in Boston. I found myself, at the beginning of 2009, getting deeply involved with Dorkbot Boston. It all started how most of the best things in my life have started, trying to impress a girl.

While the girl never worked out, the community I found was remarkable. Hackers, makers community educators. I know people who run DIY community Biology labs and some who make their livings building electronics kits they sell online. Via lockpicking I was able to ingratiate myself to these folks and in July of last year I offered to host a Dorkbot meeting at my workplace, an ancient Egyptian adventure near Fenway Park in Boston.

In the email that was sent out to announce the event my good friend David Nunez wrote the following:

Schulyer Towne is the in-house graphic and web designer for 5 Wits, Inc. He is a recognized expert in the art of speed lock picking (”locksport”) & is the Executive Editor for Non-Destructive Entry Magazine.

Just before the event, literally a few hours before, I received an email from Ian Sands, a writer for a popular free weekly here in Boston, the Phoenix. He was just finishing an article about Dorkbot and some of the people involved. When he saw my bio in the email he was intrigued. This was only a few days before DEFCON, the annual hacker conference out in Vegas which holds the only significant lockpicking competition in America. I mentioned that to Ian and that this was sort of my triumphant (I hoped) return to Locksport and he said he wanted to write a profile on me for the paper.

I wrote to him, spoke with him on the phone and texted him progress while I was out in Vegas. He called for a few last minute questions just before I flew back and a Photographer met me only a few hours after my plane landed in Boston. The article was out 2 days later.

I thought it was great, my Mom thought it was a hoot and my friends and coworkers teased me about it. I gave myself a mohawk the day after the article came out and while out for drinks with friends, in a not-too-classy maneuver, I grabbed a copy of the Phoenix from the bar, opened to my full page article and said to the cute waitress, "So, do you like my hair better in this photo or like it is now?" The laughter from my friends seemed endless.

I thought that would be all there was and was appreciative for my 15 minutes. However, Ian forwarded me an email he received saying simply "Someone wants to talk to you." It turned out to be Andrea Shea who works as a segment producer and reporter at WBUR. She wanted to do a short radio piece about me and my hobby. I agreed immediately and as I had finally started up our local locksport club I invited her to join me at Sprout, the hacker space where we hosted them and where I store most of my locks these days.

She came out, interviewed me, had me open some locks for her and took a few pictures. She mentioned in passing that everyone at the station was pretty excited about the article.

A month or so later I invited her to come to my home were I was getting together with a few friends to pick one morning and she interviewed them and took a little video as well.

It took a while longer for the story to be complete and the day the story aired Andrea wrote to tell me that everyone was still excited in the office. I thought that was nice, but she went on to say that their enthusiasm was going to land the story on Here and Now the next day which broadcasts nationally. My Mother was thrilled.

She was even more thrilled when a freelance reported heard the story and called to ask if she could pitch a story about me to some major publications. I agreed and sent her a boatload of information on the different aspects of locksport, the competitions, the ethics, the research, etc. and she began pitching stories. I heard from her sporadically, but there didn't seem to be much happening.

I was about to head home for the holidays when two people from Boston University got in touch with me. One worked there helping to run their television station and the other was a Graduate student in documentary film making. They both, without any knowledge of the other, asked if they could produce a short documentary about me. I was absolutely flummoxed by the amount of attention I was getting. Especially coming out of what was just a miserable time a year previous. I was coming up on the 1 year anniversary of my arrest and wasn't wholly comfortable as the spotlight on my life kept growing. I pushed them off just a bit and said I would meet with them as soon as I got back to Boston from Vermont.

Being home with my family for a full week at Christmas was incredible. I know this is a travel-centric site, but my simple trips home are always the most rejuvenating, focusing, relaxing times in my life. It was great to recharge and see so much of my family. Then I got another email from Andrea Shea. She said that the Here and Now piece had drummed up even more interest and now All Things Considered wanted to run a version of the story. It aired 2 days before Christmas and on Christmas day, my whole family gathered around my sister computer to listen to the story together. It was amazing.

Upon returning to Boston I was immediately back in touch with the documentary folks. I met with Robin Berghaus, the woman who worked for Boston University, first. In a perfect example of a small world it turned out she had interviewed one of my roommates for a short video a year or two before. He said she was great to work with and incredibly knowledgeable about her craft, so I was excited to meet with her. I was now running the locksport workshops every month at Sprout and after meeting with her briefly just to discuss what she wanted to do, I asked her to come out and meet some of the people I pick with. She brought her equipment and interviewed a lot of my students and friends. We now have a 61 year old blind man who is picking with us and she was there with the camera when he opened his first lock ever. Everyone was cheering. It was a great day and I would meet with her at Sprout again later on to do a one on one interview. She's finishing up the editing now and I can't wait to see how it comes out.

Ben Hartman, the other filmmaker, bought me dinner the first time I met him. It was soup in a bread bowl and as I have a lush beard it was a terrible choice for a first meeting/interview. We spoke for a while and got on well. He didn't know exactly what he wanted to do, but I mentioned, mostly joking, that I would be traveling to Istanbul in May for LockCon 3. He didn't bite, but said he'd love to come to a workshop sometime just to watch and see what there might be to document. He attended one soon after and we spoke again at length. He was getting more excited for the documentary and I was getting more comfortable with the odd waves of interest in me and what I do. A few weeks passed, he was busy with school and I was busy with any number of things, then I got an email one day.

I don't recall if I mentioned this before, but I included it in my Thesis proposal and got a good response to the idea, but as long as you were still planning to go, I'd really like to incorporate the Istanbul LockCon into the narrative and base the rest of the film around that event...

He wanted to turn what was supposed to be a short documentary into his Masters Thesis and travel to Istanbul with me. I couldn't believe it. I was thrilled. I started sharing the details of my trip planning with him. I was supposed to fly into Lisbon and make my way across Europe to Istanbul in only a week. I was thrilled for the trip and had a few traveling companions. I met with Ben again, we were both excited and discussed some story arc ideas and what to expect while we were there. Then, terrible news came down. LockCon 3 was canceled.

I was devastated. I got in touch with Ben as soon as I heard and told him what happened. I wrote that I knew he had planned a lot around this and I felt terrible, that I had some conferences and competitions, but none of them were of the same caliber. I joked that I should start a competition myself, in Boston. I'm sure you can see where this is going. Ben wrote back, thanking me for telling him so quickly and jumping a bit at my joke. He said if I could do it, he would film it. Then, at the end of the email, he said

In fact, the more I think about that idea, the more I like it...

I'll be in touch again soon...

His enthusiasm fired me up and I started trying to get a team together, to see how possible a conference and competition might actually be. I had a lot of resistance, a lot of people telling me I should wait, or not do it at all, but there were enough people passionate about it that I wanted to at least try.

I knew that with the people I have surrounded myself with here in Boston, the hackers, makers, creators, I could pull it off. I spoke with a few of them and asked if they would help me apply for a space I was in love with and figured would be easy to get for free. They were excited to help and gave me a glowing recommendation. Unfortunately, the event was denied.

I sulked like a little kid for about 2 hours until someone slapped me out of it and said "That space wasn't your conference, just find another one!" and I put the call out. I updated my website for the first time in years with a plea for help. The next morning, a Saturday, I woke up to find emails, tweets, text messages from any number of friends and a lot of people I had never heard of offering to advocate for me, apply for other spaces, and put me in touch with other people who could help.

As of today, my options for space are overflowing but I have decided on one that I think will work beautifully. Some great people have come forward to help me secure it and my fingers are crossed that the smooth sailing continues. Ben and I have met again and made some simple plans. He's excited and I'm thrilled to have him on board from the get go. It's been an absurd 8 months and all starting because I was trying to impress a girl by attending an event called "DorkBot."

Oh, and remember that freelance reporter I mentioned? She landed me a profile in the Boston Globe.

Ridiculous.

Oh MAN I need to pick some locks.

2008-12-10T07:32:59Z

I am JONESING.

A friend is buying picks for their boyfriend and needed a suggestion and I offered to pin up some practice locks for her too. I was supposed to pick up a set for another friend's birthday and have found myself doing all sorts of things except picking locks lately.

Not cool.

I'm posting as often as I'm practicing

2008-10-28T12:17:28Z

As such, this isn't going well.

However, I'm on my way to catch a bus to NYC to attend the SoSauce halloween bash, so things are looking up. See some of you soon!

- Schuyler

Impressioning basics

2008-10-20T20:43:30Z

It is gorgeous out today!

Alright, so I figured since my training regimen consists primarily of picking and impressioning I should give the run down on how both work. Here then is a PDF of the basics of impressioning. There are plenty of details not included in the PDFs that can help you be more accurate and more efficient, but at least this way you will hopefully have a clue to what I'm talking about.

So then, impressioning basics & the ai file for those who want it.

I'm off to my other esoteric hobby, Curling, for the night.

How to pick a lock.

2008-10-20T19:27:10Z

Hello, hello!

Sorry for the few days delay. Things are busy and the weekend was weird, but I'm back with an update on the wonderful world of locksport. At first I figured I would just make a post on the basics of how to pick a lock and make some simple pictures for it, but, as I was making the simple pictures I started to type some notes next to it and next thing you know I ended up with a PDF. So - please enjoy!

Lockpicking is pretty simple.

(before anyone asks, yes, the key often sticks out a little past the back of the lock, right through the tailpiece)

& the ai file, too, for your designerds out there.

In other news training is going ok. After the struggle with the Nemef I blazed through my next three locks with 20-60 second openings on each. The locks, however, are master-pinned, which is something I will explain another day. Need to catch up on my impressioning and it's time to dig deeper into the current box, too.

I'm working on something else, too, at the moment, so we'll see. I might be able to get two posts up today!

Greatest Invention...I bet you can guess

2010-03-11T19:24:07Z

It's the lock.

Seriously, no joking, no thoughts of self-promotion, but the lock is one of the oldest and most important inventions of all time.

“LOCK-AND-KEY, n. The distinguishing device of civilization and enlightenment.”

—Ambrose Bierce

People often remark that the modern pin tumbler lock is based off of a design originated in ancient Egypt, thousands of years ago. While this is initially a staggering and inspiring bit of minutia, the Egyptian gravity-dependant pin-tumbler lock was certainly not the first of it's kind. Locks have come in many different varieties over the years and many of our current varieties are mere variations of extremely old technology.

Brutally simple, but, in it's time, an effective design. Presently

you will find this concept employed in lever tumbler locks

Locks draw the line between private and public, they determine, more than any money, any lawyer, or any receipt, what is mine and what is yours. Though many people are trusting by nature, we are distrustful by evolution, locks allowed us to trust, to congregate without fear of the security of our families, selves or possessions. Then, as now, locks have served as a great social equalizer. A simple lock can stop the biggest thug. It puts the value of your loved ones and loved things at exactly the same value as your neighbor.

Lacking locks we would have no commerce. How much would you be willing to pay for a stereo that you had no way of protecting? Would you invest $30k in a car with no locks? And the merchants themselves, how would they ever keep stock, take a holiday or sleep without a lock on the door?

During the terrible years of the Stasi in East Germany they restricted the import and manufacturing of locks. They built simple tools to compromise any lock the populace could buy. They knew that in controlling the locks they could control the people. If your lock only offers you privacy from some it offers you no privacy at all. It was both an effective means of maintaining access and an act of intimidation.

In communist Poland, when their own secret police demanded that any lock installed would have it's key registered with the local police, one company sought to give people a chance within the bounds of the law. The Sezam company created a lock that required a key, yes, but that key would then turn the wheels of a combination lock. In addition to this, they designed their lock so that the owner, him or herself could modify the code or even service the lock so they would never have to rely on the untrustworthy police or locksmiths to service the lock. It is said that, in reality, this lock only offered another minute's protection, as most doors could be breached by more violent means, but people were desperate for that 60 seconds, for the noise that would come from the destruction of their door, for the chance to protect themselves from unannounced intruders.

In addition to safety, locks also act as evidence. Locks that are used as seals allow the rightful owner to know if their privacy has been violated. The tradition is incredible old and has taken many forms. One of the simplest forms of a seal-lock is the thief knot, an odd knot, easily mistaken for a reef knot, that, when untied, is rarely retied properly.

The US (and some foreign) government(s) use a safe lock called the X-09, manufactured by the Kaba Mas group. This is one of the most advanced locks in the world, but it has many plastic components. It is used to protect highly classified information. Lists of operatives, mission plans, etc. It is designed to deny any possibility of surreptitious entry.

A short list of it's MANY features:

-The dial is non-linear. As you spin the wheel the numbers change (electronically) at random intervals, so a casual viewer would be unable to determine anything from how far you spin the dial in each direction.

-The dial is only viewable from head-on. Even a slight change in angle leaves the current number completely obfuscated so that only the user dialing it can view it.

-Even if the attacker is extraordinarily determined, removes the lock and replaces it with a brand new lock, the original user will know it has been tampered with. Each lock is sprayed, randomly, with paint inside the box itself, rendering a unique pattern on every lock before it ever leaves the factory.

And a lot more as well. It is with the security that this lock offers that everything from industry to espionage is able to function.

Again, the lock is the dividing line between public and private. It allows us to build communities, trade with each other, and acts as the perfect social equalizer, allowing every man, woman and child safety and security.

Box 1, Day 3: Win Some, Lose Some

2008-10-16T18:04:50Z

Training thus far has been both exhilarating and frustrating. To put it simply, I had a great first success in impressioning. It was a rush, but I have failed miserably at the picking.

Impressioning:

An STS Euro Cylinder. NOT a Zeiss Ikon, I just like their motto.

So, I impressioned my first lock! I'll write a better description of what, exactly, impressioning is in a post very soon, I promise, but for now I will give the very basics of the method:

1. Take a key blank, smooth the blade of it with a fine file

so the surface is even.

2. Insert the blank into the lock, turn as far to the right as

it will go and wiggle it, same for the left.

3. Look at the blank under a magnifying glass of some sort

and find small divots the pins have left in the lock, this

is the important part, because ONLY those pins that are

not yet at the shear line* will leave a mark.

4. File away one position on the key, repeat steps 2-4

until the lock opens.

It's a time consuming process and in the impressioning competition an hour is alloted. Because of the intense pressures being put on the key, the blade often bends or snaps off forcing you to start over. That said? I opened my first lock in 15 minutes, and I was being pretty lesiurely about it as well!

You can see my more rounded and sloppy key at the top.

It was thrilling, an excitement better described by my friend Barry Wels. Now, my first lock was given to me by another friend, Henk, who told me it would mark well and be a good confidence building lock. He was absolutely right and as I quickly found out, the same would not be true for all locks.

The next two I have tried seem impenetrable. I'm not licked yet, not by a long shot, but I've only been able to see markings about 50% of the time I think I should and inevitably not opened either of the other locks I have tried. I think it's time to go back to the book!

Impressioning, by Oliver Diederichsen

Ollie wrote an incredible book (3rd one down) on the subject of impressioning, which Barry gave me as a gift while we were in NYC together at the Hackers on Planet Earth conference. It's an incredible manual and my initial skimming could likely use a refresher at least, retraining at most.

So, that's the plan as far as impressioning goes. Going to do a little light reading and get back to it. Hopefully I can pick up some tips to improve my performance against these locks.

Picking:

Making NO progress in picking what-so-ever! The very first lock in my box was one I have opened via a Bogota rake multiple times and had relagated it to "confidence" status (a lock I opened to make myself feel better when failing at opening another lock) so I figured it would be a good start for my new-found love of hooks.

NOT THE CASE! The reason this was a perfect confidence lock is that it's actually of a decent quality, but I happened to get to know it very well and could open it quickly. It's a 6 pin, SKG (European security rating) 2 Star (out of a possible 3, so very good for a standard pin tumbler lock) Euro cylinder. I have been trying to pick this damn lock for 3 days now. I am getting to know it better, that is for sure. I can false-set* it pretty regularly now, but can't seem to finish the job.

I didn't know how to deal with this at first. At first I thought "Can't go around, must go through!" but then, my selection of this particular lock was arbitrary to begin with, why treat it like dogma now? Even if I were to open it sometime today, tomorrow or whenever, it becomes more and more likely as time goes on, that the opening will be a lucky break, not true skill. So, the Nemef is going into a second box. In this box I will put any lock that stymies me for 2 days or more. They will be revisited every couple of weeks as my skill (theorhetically) increases and hopefully I'll start opening a few of them.

So, though I am feeling a little sheepish right now, I'm still optimistic for the future. I've just dug a few fresh locks from Box #1 and hopefully I can get around to popping them!

Things I still want to talk about, but haven't the time to quite yet:

How locks, lockpicking and impressioning work. A full primer!

Explaination of how different competitions are held, what it's like competing, etc.

The different locksport organizations, who are they, some of the history.

Actually...I don't even really have time to write this list. It gets LONG!

Footnotes:

*Shear-line: A typical pin-tumbler lock has several chambers each filled with at least 2 pins and a spring. The sheer line is where the top of the bottom pin and the bottom of the top pin need to meet in order for the lock to open. (I'll have pictures and real explainations soon!)

*False-set: A lock can become false-set when it encounters a particular type of security pin. This pin has a gap cut out of it that the lock slips into. So, you see the plug of the lock (plug is the piece with the keyway in it) turn about 10 degrees off of center, but stop again. They can be very frustrating to compensate for, but there is a very straightforward method and most of the time it's not so bad.

The Nemef in question, false-set:

The regimen

2008-10-15T04:49:09Z

I will likely write more about this later, but I figured we should start with why I think I need to change the way I train for these competitions. Don't worry, I'm going to lay out the training concept here as well. Also - because I don't want to have to take time out in the middle of a thought to explain a term or identify someone I'll use links where appropriate and footnotes elsewhere.

Why:

I am very happy with my past performances and proud to have achieved some of the milestones I have. I won a black badge at DEFCON 15 for winning the speed picking competition (by a very slim margin) and won the main event (the spectator-friendly Gringo Warrior) at DEFCON 16. I have participated in 3 Dutch Opens and have managed to maintain a slight winning average in my head-to-head matches. This year I even managed to best the #2 lockpicker in the world: Arthur Meister in a head-to-head match. However? I got the feeling this year that I had peaked.

I developed one skill deeply and I have known for a while now that the once dramatic improvements in picking times and consistency have plateaued. I am a competent lockpicker, but I rely far too heavily on my rakes*. I know how important single-pin-picking (SPP)* is. The fact is, if it weren't for a lot of practice with my hooks I would be useless with the rakes, but my focus is competitive speed picking so rakes are an inevitability.

A lot of people assume that when raking you are just getting lucky or that you lose all feeling or that there is no finesse involved. They are wrong. Though the feeling is different I get a very distinct image of what is going on inside of the lock when I take my bogota* to it. I adjust the manner of my raking to compensate for what I feel going on inside and I know when there are one or two pins outside of the reach of the rake that I will have to finish off with a hook.

The problem is that I kept finding myself saying, as I would switch locks with my opponent,

"I understand it, I just can't seem to finish it."

So, I still have my basic feeling, but I have come as far as I can in this direction and it's time to refocus myself.

The Regimen:

There are three things that I needed to address. The first, as I mentioned above, was my dependence on rakes. That is what led the charge. However, the fact is I nearly never practiced before. I would pick idly and I always enjoyed it, but I was lucky if I was opening a lock a week most of the time, so with a set schedule I hope to see some consistent improvements. Lastly, I watched my mentor, Barry Wels, become the very first non-german Meister by way of back-to-back impressioning* wins and while most of my emotions were that of pride for this person I so respect, there was a little bit of "Alright, now I need to do that..."

So, I'm losing the rakes, bumping up the practices as a whole, and learning how to impression locks.

Two week cycles:

I have a bunch of tackle boxes that I keep my locks in. Other people swear by other things these work pretty well for me. I've taken one and divided it into 14 sections. In each section goes a lock. I am giving myself 2 weeks to pick all of the locks with the expectation that I should be able to maintain a 1-lock-per-day pace. At the end of the 2 weeks I will prove to myself that the results are reproducible and attempt to pick all 14 locks in one go. Using simple tape and a sharpie I will mark each lock according to how long it took to open on my second pass. The demarcation lines will be 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 7 minutes and beyond.

Cold turkey for 6 months:

I've put my rakes into storage. I will not touch them for the next 6 months. (Though, I will take them out for a few days in November as I am running workshops at a school in Arizona and will need to explain to them what a rake is and demo it for them.) Other than this I will use only hooks until April of 2009. Hopefully, when I pick up the rakes for the first time in such an extreme absence I will not just quickly regain the feeling for them, but have so improved my own picking sensitivity that I will surpass my previous ability.

Impressioning every day:

At least one key every day, doesn't matter if I open the particular lock or not, but I have to make an attempt every single day. I have everything I need for this now and 90% of it is highly portable as well, so hopefully I won't be able to weasel out of this commitment.

So, that's the plan. First up in the 14 day box is a 6 pin Nemef euro cylinder with a decent security rating.

Wish me luck.

footnotes:

*Rakes: One of three basic categories of picks, rakes manipulate multiple pins inside of the lock at one time, hopefully leading to very rapid opening. Rakes come in many dramatically different forms. I'll go over as many picks as I can think of in a future post.

*Single-Pin-Picking: We shorten this to "SPP" most of the time. Basically, this is a method of manipulation where you interact with only one pin at a time using one of a variety of picks called hooks. This method is generally thought to be more deliberate and consistent.

*Bogota: The Bogota rake is simply the finest rake there is. Some may argue that an L rake or large S is better, but my guess would be that they haven't used a Bogota. They are made by hand by a man in Minnesota named Ray. He also has a really nice cat.

*Impressioning: This is a method of entry that entails actually making a key for the lock you are working on. By forcing a key blank back and forth inside of a lock, eyeballing any distinct marks left by the pins on the key & then filing away the area that was marked you can slowly (lather-rinse-repeat) create a key for that lock. The advantages to this over picking are fairly obvious, though it typically takes much longer.

It all starts here

2008-10-14T21:16:35Z

Allow me to briefly introduce myself:

My name is Schuyler Towne, I am the executive editor of Non-Destructive Entry Magazine, one of the founders of The Open Organization Of Lockpickers, US and, first and foremost, a competitive lockpicker.

We call it "Locksport"-hence the title of the journal and just yesterday I arrived home from one of the biggest events in locksport, the Dutch Open. This was my third year at the Open which is now part of a formal conference aptly titled "LockCon."

I will try to cover some of the history of the sport, details of articles we are working on for the magazine, share some stories from the American Open (held each year at DEFCON in Las Vegas) and introduce you to some of the more interesting figures in the community.

I have no idea how frequently I will update, but my hope is to post 5-7 times a week, at least detailing what I have done that day toward my new training regimen.

And what is that regimen? Details to follow in the next post...