Safe-cracking
A well known surreptitious bypass technique, it requires knowledge of the device and well developed touch, along with the senses of sight and possibly sound.
[1] Manipulation procedures vary, but all rely on exploiting mechanical imperfections in the lock to open it, and, if desired, recover its combination for future use.
Similar damage-free bypass can also be achieved by using a computerized auto-dialer or manipulation robot in a so-called brute-force attack.
These auto-dialer machines may take 24 hours or more to reach the correct combination,[2] although modern devices with advanced software may do so faster.
[5] Wheels made from lightweight materials will reduce valuable sensory feedback, but are mainly used for improved resistance against radiographic attacks.
[6] Manipulation is often the preferred choice in lost-combination lockouts, since it requires no repairs or damage, but can be time consuming for an operator, with the specific difficulty depending on the unique wheel shapes and where the gates rest in relation to them.
A novice's opening time will be governed by these random inconsistencies, while some leading champions of this art show consistency.
There are also a number of tools on the market to assist safe engineers in manipulating a combination lock open in the field.
Such a device was created by two students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which took 21,000 tries to open a Sargent and Greenleaf 8500 lock on a Diebold Safe.
Lockmasters, Inc. markets the QX3 Combi Autodialer (LKMCOMBI) that works on a variety of 3 and 4 Wheel combination safe locks.
All quality safes protect against drilling attacks through the strategic use of specially tempered or alloyed hardplate steel, or composite hardplate (casting tungsten carbide chips into alloys such as cobalt-vanadium, designed to shatter the cutting tips of a drill bit).
Plasma cutters and thermal lances can be as hot as 2,200 °C (3,990 °F), much hotter than traditional oxyacetylene torches, and can be used to burn through the metal on a safe.
These are usually in the form of fusible links integrated into the glass relocker cabling, which trigger it when a set temperature is exceeded.
When manipulation-proof mechanical locks and glass re-lockers are implemented as security measures, scoping is the most practical option.
It is also a common way to bypass difficult hard plates and glass re-lockers since the change key hole can be scoped by drilling the top, side, or back of the container.
These methods may involve explosives or other devices to inflict severe force and damage the safe so it may be opened.
Low-end home and hotel safes often utilize a solenoid as the locking device and can often be opened using a powerful rare-earth magnet.
[12][13] Several tools exist that can automatically retrieve or reset the combination of an electronic lock; notably, the Little Black Box[14] and Phoenix.
If an electronic lock accepts user input from a keypad, this process can be observed in order to reveal the combination.
When properly implemented, these keypads make the "shoulder surfing" attack infeasible, as the combination bears no resemblance to the positions of the keys which are pressed.
Some of the more famous works include: Three safecracking methods seen in movies were also tested on the television show MythBusters, with some success.
