Interesting room security read
Jul 26, 2012 | 3:44 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: YYZ
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Posts: 1,320
Interesting room security read
Interesting room security read....
Most hotel patrons understand that guest rooms have never been completely secure, after all that’s why many establishments provide a safe in each room. And despite a few instances of safe-hacking, it’s probably time to start using it. At the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, Mozilla software developer Cody Brocious, demonstrated an open-source device which can unlock four to five million key-card protected hotel rooms faster than you can blink, literally.
http://www.sync-blog.com/sync/2012/0...y-hackers.html
Most hotel patrons understand that guest rooms have never been completely secure, after all that’s why many establishments provide a safe in each room. And despite a few instances of safe-hacking, it’s probably time to start using it. At the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, Mozilla software developer Cody Brocious, demonstrated an open-source device which can unlock four to five million key-card protected hotel rooms faster than you can blink, literally.
http://www.sync-blog.com/sync/2012/0...y-hackers.html
Jul 27, 2012 | 1:16 am
#2
Moderator: InterContinental Hotels and Germany
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 7,199
This topic is not (only) related to IHG Hotel but to all hotels. I therefore move this thread to http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/pract...ty-issues-686/
FLYGVA
co-moderator IHG Forum
FLYGVA
co-moderator IHG Forum
Jul 27, 2012 | 10:49 am
#5
In Memoriam
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Jul 27, 2012 | 8:18 pm
#6
Moderator: Hilton Honors, Practical Travel Safety Issues, Information Desk & San Francisco
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: San Francisco CA
Programs: UA, Hilton, Priceline, AirBnB
Posts: 11,319
Cross posting is not allowed on FT as you know
but I think this is a good issue to leave here so it'll stay open till we figure out whether to merge etc.
thanks
saueakr
co Mod TS/S
thanks
saueakr
co Mod TS/S
Jul 30, 2012 | 10:39 am
#7
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Baltimore, MD USA
Programs: Southwest Rapid Rewards. Tha... that's about it.
Posts: 4,430
As Dr. Peter Venkmen once said, "I have more than two grades of laundry than just clean/dirty; there are many subtle levels."
Security, whether traveling or at home, is rather like a balance scale, with risk and difficulty on one side, and reward on the other. One doesn't need to bottom out the risk/diffuclty side to be relatively secure, one merely needs to tip the scales enough in that direction to discourage the most common types of theives.
Simple example - putting your small valuables in the hotel room safe, and locking your laptop with a steel cable to some fixed object in the room, make it too time-consuming (thus risky) for most hotel theives to bother with.
Sure, they can carry a pair of bolt cutters into the hotel and use them to cut the cable. But they usually don't. Sure, they can carry electronic gear or steal master keys to open the safes. But they usually don't.
Theivery by housekeeping is very common, but housekeeping theives generally don't bother with the safe or with a locked-down laptop.
Why not? Because the room next door may have a loose, unsecured laptop, phone, or jewelry box that they can take in a few seconds at a much lower risk.
Most hotel theives are dine-and-dash opportunists - they slip into a room, grab whatever is loose and exposed, and slip out again. They're usually not interested in spending more than a minute or two in the room, because the longer they're in a room, the more likely they are to be discovered by someone who knows that they're not supposed to be there (such as the legitimate occupants).
So, you can't make yourself completely secure. But you can make yourself less a less attractive target by relying on methods other than the door lock alone.
And it should go without saying that, whenever you're actually IN the room, the deadbolt, chain, and any other mechanical fasterner the door might have should be secured at all times. Not only will it prevent theives from getting in, but it will also prevent unwanted intrusion by hotel staff or other guests who may have been given the wrong room key accidentally.
Security, whether traveling or at home, is rather like a balance scale, with risk and difficulty on one side, and reward on the other. One doesn't need to bottom out the risk/diffuclty side to be relatively secure, one merely needs to tip the scales enough in that direction to discourage the most common types of theives.
Simple example - putting your small valuables in the hotel room safe, and locking your laptop with a steel cable to some fixed object in the room, make it too time-consuming (thus risky) for most hotel theives to bother with.
Sure, they can carry a pair of bolt cutters into the hotel and use them to cut the cable. But they usually don't. Sure, they can carry electronic gear or steal master keys to open the safes. But they usually don't.
Theivery by housekeeping is very common, but housekeeping theives generally don't bother with the safe or with a locked-down laptop.
Why not? Because the room next door may have a loose, unsecured laptop, phone, or jewelry box that they can take in a few seconds at a much lower risk.
Most hotel theives are dine-and-dash opportunists - they slip into a room, grab whatever is loose and exposed, and slip out again. They're usually not interested in spending more than a minute or two in the room, because the longer they're in a room, the more likely they are to be discovered by someone who knows that they're not supposed to be there (such as the legitimate occupants).
So, you can't make yourself completely secure. But you can make yourself less a less attractive target by relying on methods other than the door lock alone.
And it should go without saying that, whenever you're actually IN the room, the deadbolt, chain, and any other mechanical fasterner the door might have should be secured at all times. Not only will it prevent theives from getting in, but it will also prevent unwanted intrusion by hotel staff or other guests who may have been given the wrong room key accidentally.