• 86 Posts
  • 61 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
Cake day: June 24th, 2023
  • along_the_road@beehaw.orgOPtoTechnology@beehaw.org•Hackers Went Looking for a Backdoor in High-Security Safes—and Now Can Open Them in Seconds
    44·
    3 months ago

    About two years ago, security researchers James Rowley and Mark Omo got curious about a scandal in the world of electronic safes: Liberty Safe, which markets itself as “America’s #1 heavy-duty home and gun safe manufacturer,” had apparently given the FBI a code that allowed agents to open a criminal suspect’s safe in response to a warrant related to the January 6, 2021, invasion of the US Capitol building.

    Politics aside, Rowley and Omo were taken aback to read that it was so easy for law enforcement to penetrate a locked metal box—not even an internet-connected device—that no one but the owner ought to have the code to open. “How is it possible that there’s this physical security product, and somebody else has the keys to the kingdom?” Omo asks.

    So they decided to try to figure out how that backdoor worked. In the process, they’d find something far bigger: another form of backdoor intended to let authorized locksmiths open not just Liberty Safe devices, but the high-security Securam Prologic locks used in many of Liberty’s safes and those of at least seven other brands. More alarmingly, they discovered a way for a hacker to exploit that backdoor—intended to be accessible only with the manufacturer’s help—to open a safe on their own in seconds.

  • along_the_road@beehaw.orgOPtoTechnology@beehaw.org•Travel reporter accuses Hyatt of $500 smoking fee scam
    43·
    3 months ago

    When travel reporter Zach Griff checked into The Pell, a JDV by Hyatt property in Rhode Island, he expected a relaxing stay with his wife and 9-month-old daughter. Unfortunately, he left on a sour note after the hotel charged him a $500 smoking fee following his stay.

    The problem? Griff says he’s never smoked a day in his life, let alone in a hotel room while staying there with his family.

    Griff, a senior reporter at The Points Guy, took his story public on social media after the hotel allegedly charged him the $500 fee based on readings from an air quality sensor. The sensor data was supplied by a third-party company called Rest, which claims hotels can easily collect fees from smoking events.