Abstract

Marc Weber Tobias and his team are senior security analysts for all of the major lock manufacturers in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East. He has developed a comprehensive set of axioms, principles, and rules for design engineers and vulnerability assessment teams to guide them in producing security products that are less likely to be easily attacked and compromised.

The lecture includes a discussion and case examples of a failure of engineers to connect the dots and understand basic theories involving the compromise of locks and safes. The problem in the industry pervades every kind of product, as discussed in this presentation. This includes the famous kryptonite bike lock fiasco, gun locks that are opened by a five year old child, gun storage cases that were accessed by a child that led to litigation, the design of a safe for the storage of weapons that ended in tragedy, and a clever and very defective electronic padlock for protecting parcels delivered to residences.

Marc Tobias is presently writing a detailed text on this subject entitled “Tobias on Locks and Insecurity Engineering” which should be available sometime in 2023.