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Not so safe

Barry Wels is not a well-known name in the South African security market, although it should be. Wels developed a passion for locks in his teens and has won a number of lock-picking championships, the most recent at LockCon in the USA this year.

Wels was in South Africa earlier this year as a guest of Swiss Locks and he stopped for coffee at the Hi-Tech Security Solutions’ offices to talk about what he does best – lock picking. Of course Wels spoke about more than lock picking, but the startling ease with which he opens almost any lock in a few seconds starts a broader conversation as to why we bother locking ourselves in our houses and why we lock our businesses at night.

Wels is the president of Toool (The Open Organisation Of Lockpickers, which can be found at www.tool.nl). Toool is a lock picking sports club based in The Netherlands, and the website is an amazing resource about locks and the sport of picking – Toool is very strict about what its members do with their knowledge, so local syndicates need not apply.

In his travels around South African businesses, including the Hi-Tech Security Solutions offices, Wels found that we have a tendency to use cheap locks that could be picked in minutes by a relatively well-practiced lock picker. Perhaps ignorance of how easy it is to open a lock with the right tools – which are freely available over the Internet – or our reliance on armed response companies supersedes buying a decent lock.

There are locks that are designed to be impossible to open, and many of them are safe, but they tend to be more expensive, so most business and homeowners opt for the cheap devices that can be picked in seconds. To demonstrate the ease with which cheaper locks can be picked, this writer was able to open a couple of locks through the raking and rapping with no prior experience.

And if you think the combination lock you use to protect your personal effects in a locker at gym is any better, think again. Wels can open that in seconds too, without damaging the lock. Sadly, many locks today can still be picked with ease by a comb pick, a device invented about a century ago. See Wels in action with comb picks and other tools at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5-hC2oBQG4&feature=plcp. In Fact, search YouTube for 'Barry Wels' will provide a smorgasbord of videos on how locks work and lock picking.

The question of lock picking is taken more seriously in Europe than in South Africa where violence is the norm when it comes to crime. However, Wels explains that insurance companies often will not pay out a burglary claim if there is no evidence of tampering on a lock, and when picked correctly, there is often not even a scratch on the exterior of the lock.

He has been involved in the development of cameras that take 3D images of the insides of a lock, where the evidence of picking can clearly be seen. Lock forensics may not seem to be a high-tech industry, but for those who have travelled the inside of a lock in 3D, it is a fascinating topic.

Lock picking courses are available from Wels, as seen on his website www.lock-experts.com, or contact Swiss Locks directly. Alternatively, you can follow the lock-picking champion on his personal blob at www.blackbag.nl. And if the cryptography of telecommunications is of interest to you, Wels’s day job sees him involved in GSMK, which encrypts a variety of forms of conversations (http://www.cryptophone.de/en/).

Having met Wels and been educated as to the ease with which most locks we rely on can be picked, one must ask why locksmiths in South Africa, as a norm, would rather drill a lock than spend a couple of minutes picking it. Is the answer as simple as drilling ensures they can charge a callout fee and profit from selling you a new lock? Or is it that the locksmiths we trust are simply not up to speed when it comes to knowing how locks work? Feel free to send your opinion to [email protected].

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