During the summer of 2007, a rash of mysterious burglaries occurred in the Dallas, Texas area. Residents of upscale apartment complexes would return home at the end of the day to find their doors unlocked and their apartments robbed. Even more puzzling, the thieves were able to hit a dozen or more apartments in one day! How did they do this?
Detective Scott Peterson was the one to finally solve the crime, discovering that the thieves, later known as the Bump Key Bandits, were employing lock bumping, a technique often used by locksmiths to open doors.
A locksmith in Denmark first developed the technique of lock bumping. At first, the method was to insert a key and apply a slight pressure while tapping on it with a hammer or screwdriver. The force caused the tumblers in the key's cylinder to jiggle and sometimes open up. Sometime around 2002, a simple tool called a bump key was developed to make the process easier. Bump keys are not illegal, and can easily be purchased on the internet. In fact, most commercial and residential locksmiths keep bump keys in their arsenal of tools for opening locked doors.
In 2005 Barry Wels and Rop Gonggrijp of the Dutch organization TOOOL (The Open Organization of Lockpickers) drafted a paper detailing the method and application of lock bumping. This technique finally attracted a great deal of attention in 2005 following the broadcast of a Dutch television show. The show detailed the risk of illegal entry and potential for theft by using lock bumping techniques.
Around the same time, an American security expert, Marc Tobia, began to publicly discuss the technique and its serious security risks. This information began to circulate through the media, and criminals in the United States and other countries quickly took note. Now there are numerous online resources for anyone wanting to learn how to bump locks. Kits for making bump keys are readily available to anyone with a credit card, and thus the technique of lock bumping has become a major security risk to the general public.
So how do you protect yourself and your family? Ironically, many high quality locks on the market today only make lock bumping easier. Very expensive locksets are manufactured with precise tolerances in the key cylinder. Because the pins work so smoothly, lock bumping becomes much easier. Furthermore, locks made of hardened steel are even more vulnerable because they are less prone to damage during the bumping process, whereas a cheaper lock is more likely to jam and not open.
Locks with security pins (for example, spool or mushroom pins) combined with a regular tumbler mechanism generally make lock bumping more difficult. Electronic locks, magnetic locks, and locks using rotating disks are even better options because they can rarely if ever be opened via lock bumping. Another option is a type of lock featuring trap pins. The pins in these locks' key cylinders are designed to jamb when someone tries to bump the lock.
Many companies now sell bump proof or bump resistant locks; however, bear in mind that as of yet, there is still no official standard as to what constitutes a bump proof lock. For absolute security, look for locks that don't have a slot for a key, such as touchpad locksets requiring you to enter a combination to open the door. After all, a thief can't enter your home with a bump key if there's no place to insert it!
Detective Scott Peterson was the one to finally solve the crime, discovering that the thieves, later known as the Bump Key Bandits, were employing lock bumping, a technique often used by locksmiths to open doors.
A locksmith in Denmark first developed the technique of lock bumping. At first, the method was to insert a key and apply a slight pressure while tapping on it with a hammer or screwdriver. The force caused the tumblers in the key's cylinder to jiggle and sometimes open up. Sometime around 2002, a simple tool called a bump key was developed to make the process easier. Bump keys are not illegal, and can easily be purchased on the internet. In fact, most commercial and residential locksmiths keep bump keys in their arsenal of tools for opening locked doors.
In 2005 Barry Wels and Rop Gonggrijp of the Dutch organization TOOOL (The Open Organization of Lockpickers) drafted a paper detailing the method and application of lock bumping. This technique finally attracted a great deal of attention in 2005 following the broadcast of a Dutch television show. The show detailed the risk of illegal entry and potential for theft by using lock bumping techniques.
Around the same time, an American security expert, Marc Tobia, began to publicly discuss the technique and its serious security risks. This information began to circulate through the media, and criminals in the United States and other countries quickly took note. Now there are numerous online resources for anyone wanting to learn how to bump locks. Kits for making bump keys are readily available to anyone with a credit card, and thus the technique of lock bumping has become a major security risk to the general public.
So how do you protect yourself and your family? Ironically, many high quality locks on the market today only make lock bumping easier. Very expensive locksets are manufactured with precise tolerances in the key cylinder. Because the pins work so smoothly, lock bumping becomes much easier. Furthermore, locks made of hardened steel are even more vulnerable because they are less prone to damage during the bumping process, whereas a cheaper lock is more likely to jam and not open.
Locks with security pins (for example, spool or mushroom pins) combined with a regular tumbler mechanism generally make lock bumping more difficult. Electronic locks, magnetic locks, and locks using rotating disks are even better options because they can rarely if ever be opened via lock bumping. Another option is a type of lock featuring trap pins. The pins in these locks' key cylinders are designed to jamb when someone tries to bump the lock.
Many companies now sell bump proof or bump resistant locks; however, bear in mind that as of yet, there is still no official standard as to what constitutes a bump proof lock. For absolute security, look for locks that don't have a slot for a key, such as touchpad locksets requiring you to enter a combination to open the door. After all, a thief can't enter your home with a bump key if there's no place to insert it!
Conveneience Store Mobile coupon usage jumped in 2015, according to Koupon Media’s recently released 2016 State of the Mobile Coupon Industry report. The report affirms the growing trend reported by eMarketer that the number of consumers in the U.S. who used a mobile coupon in 2015 grew 18% to 92.6 million. The data found in the report also points to the rise of convenience store mobile coupons in mobile marketing:
- 42% of mobile users have used a mobile coupon
- 39% of customers spend more if they receive a personalized coupon
- 60% of customers would adopt mobile payments if offered coupons
Consumers are using their smartphones more while they’re shopping, and mobile coupon usage is growing as a result, said Bill Ogle, CEO of Koupon Media, in a press release. “In 2015 we doubled the number of coupons delivered on our platform. The fact is mobile coupons are easier to use than paper or print-at-home coupons and more retailers accept them than ever before. It won’t be long before the mobile coupon outpaces paper coupons altogether.”
The redemption data in the report focuses on convenience store coupons, a vertical that is showing some of the largest growth in all of retail. Data in the report points to energy drinks, soda and juice as the highest redeeming categories for mobile coupons.
Apartment dwellers remain the most vulnerable to lock bumping attacks. Because most apartment locks can all be opened by one master key, they are extremely easy to bump, thus the reason why the Dallas thieves targeted only apartment complexes. If you do rent an apartment, insist that the locks be changed before you move in, so that prior residents cannot enter your home. If your landlord refuses to change the locks, inquire if you can replace them on your own. If all else fails, choose a safety prop or some other device to prevent unauthorized entry.
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