Your house key can be copied from a photo
Security researchers have developed a piece of software which is able to duplicate any house key from a distant photo of it.
Because the technique requires no physical assess to the keys it means just flashing your keys in public is now a security threat.
The boffins from UC San Diego say they created the software to prove that keys are not safe ... any not because they wanted to get into the house of a woman they are stalking.
Using what they describe as 'modest imaging equipment' and 'standard computer vision algorithms' they were able to cut working copies of photographed keys.
In one example they even copied a key using a photo taken from nearly 200 feet away (remember what I said about stalking.)
"It is assumed that duplication should require either possession of the key or a prior knowledge of how it was cut," said one of the researchers.
"However, the prevalence of digital imaging technologies present a fundamental challenge to this privacy assumption.
"A motivated attacker can covertly steal a victim's keys without fear of detection," he added.
The SNEAKEY technology will obviously be of interest to thieves ... and hopefully my local locksmith who seems unable to copy a key, even when he has it in his hand.
Links:
SNEAKEY
UC San Diego
Security researchers have developed a piece of software which is able to duplicate any house key from a distant photo of it.Because the technique requires no physical assess to the keys it means just flashing your keys in public is now a security threat.
The boffins from UC San Diego say they created the software to prove that keys are not safe ... any not because they wanted to get into the house of a woman they are stalking.
Using what they describe as 'modest imaging equipment' and 'standard computer vision algorithms' they were able to cut working copies of photographed keys.
In one example they even copied a key using a photo taken from nearly 200 feet away (remember what I said about stalking.)
"It is assumed that duplication should require either possession of the key or a prior knowledge of how it was cut," said one of the researchers.
"However, the prevalence of digital imaging technologies present a fundamental challenge to this privacy assumption.
"A motivated attacker can covertly steal a victim's keys without fear of detection," he added.
The SNEAKEY technology will obviously be of interest to thieves ... and hopefully my local locksmith who seems unable to copy a key, even when he has it in his hand.
Links:
SNEAKEY
UC San Diego
