Locksmith’s safecracking goes viral
A Vancouver locksmith says he can easily break into safes with electronic locks using a good old-fashioned technique his grandfather employed.
A YouTube video showing Terry Whin-Yates effortlessly cracking a small safe using a strong magnet and a sock racked up more than a million hits by Friday after just a week online.
“This thing was just a quick posting, and I’m surprised at how much attention it’s getting,” said WhinYates, the owner of Mr. Locksmith.
He said he’s continuously testing locks as part of his job and was surprised how easy it was to break open the SentrySafe, a model commonly used in homes and hotels.
“I grabbed my magnet and it opened,” said the third-generation locksmith. “A magnet is a classic old tool my grandfather used to use.”
He said his special rare-earth magnet causes the magnetic field from the safe’s solenoid to retract or close, unlocking it with no effort or even movement. The puck-sized magnet is so strong “it’ll squish your finger” if you get it caught between the metal and the magnet and would wipe out your cellphone or wreck your watch if it got too close.
“Injuries are terrible with these things,” Whin-Yates warned.
That’s the reason for the sock. Whin-Yates has to slip the magnet into the sock before attaching it to the safe or he would have a tough time pulling it off, he said.
Rare-earth magnets, made from neodymium or samarium-cobalt, are two to three times stronger than other types. While they used to cost hundreds of dollars and their sale was restricted, anyone can now purchase them for cheap, said WhinYates. A store on Main Street in Vancouver advertises a puck-sized magnet for about $70.
He said other locksmiths have criticized him for letting out trade secrets but he said it’s important for him as a locksmith to keep his clients as safe as possible — and that means testing products for flaws.
He discovered the hack on a SentrySafe two years ago and gave the manufacturer time to respond or fix the flaw before going public.
SentrySafe “took immediate steps to quickly address this,” said spokeswoman Elizabeth Castro in an email after learning about the vulnerability in one of its product lines.
The company offered consumers a free upgrade kit or a refund.
The only product affected was the “Electronic Fire Safe,” which is meant to protect valuables against fire and water damage, and it was never sold to hotels, she said.
Whin-Yates said he and his staff have cracked four other SentrySafe products using a magnet.
He said he would never leave his valuables in a hotel safe.