ANTI-SPY,
if you want the code to remain a secret
Imagine if an employee at your bank kept your debit card PIN number to give to you, just in case you forgot it on one occasion.
Not a pleasant thought, is it?
Did you know that almost all of the freely-programmable, mechanical, combination key lock-systems, designed for use with lockers have precisely this glaring oversight, making the system vulnerable? That they are based on an outdated technology, where anyone who gets hold of the service key – even if it’s just to borrow it - can easily read and pass-on the personal user codes? That third parties are therefore permitted regular access, without coming to the notice of the user or administrator?
The cause of this lies in the design principle behind these locks, which has remained unchanged for decades and is based on a code-finding technique that was once intended for suitcase locks and was sufficient as such, but is absolutely not for use with lockers.
In principle, with this type of technology, if you lose the code, you can only continue to use the locker if you find the code again.
This means that in addition to the built-in ability to spy on personal user codes, there is an additional, sometimes considerable amount of time that needs to be spent on additional maintenance.
And it is easy to create a secure locking system that is convenient to manage.
If the lock is closed and code is unknown, the administrator must always be able to:
1. Quickly open the lock in an emergency, e.g. if danger is present or for inspection purposes
2. Rapidly restore the factory settings, either to assign the locker to someone else or to enable the user to program in a new code if he forgets or loses it.
The ability to retrieve the code is therefore completely irrelevant and in fact is nothing more than a construction-related task, constituting a waste of time for the administrator and a security risk for the user.
With the different code finding techniques available today, manufacturers try to mask the weaknesses of this old technology. Some manufacturers created a complex sampling technique where each number wheel has to be scanned with thin pins or plates, which reduces the risk of code theft somewhat but is also very onerous and time consuming in terms of administration. Others rely on automatic code finding systems, where every time the service key is used to open the lock, the user code is displayed, even if you do not want to reset the lock. For security, this feature is of course disastrous, because user codes are always displayed automatically which is totally unnecessarily.
In summary, one can say that locking systems with a code finding function have the decisive disadvantage of being cumbersome for administrators and unsafe for users, where at times the one, sometimes the other predominates.
Additionally, when taking into consideration that many locker users suspect nothing of the existing security risks and out of concern of forgetting their code like to program a familiar one, such as a mobile phone or bank PIN, or that locker managers in practice are often unjustly suspected of having come into possession of personal user codes through dishonest means, we must observe that these systems are no longer appropriate and must be strongly discouraged, not only for security, but also for data protection and insurance reasons.
With the 1401 ANTI-SPY locking system and the new QUICK-RESET function, W&F-LOCKS offers a very simple and uncompromising solution to the existing problems presented by those systems generally available on the market.