Bump a Lock. From Wired How-To Wiki Feel safe behind your locked door? Sorry to spoil your sense of security, but there's an old lockpicker's secret anyone could learn to make a skeleton key and open almost any locked door. "Bumping" is a method for picking a lock using a filed-down key of the appropriate type and tapping on the cylinder. This causes the pins to drop into place as if the correct key was being used. The technique is named after the bumping motion used to knock the pins into place. Why is this something you need to know? Now, you could trust your home's lock security hoping thieves don't read this article, or you could learn the attacks yourself and make sure your lock is up to snuff. The Steps to Bumping a Lock Identify the model of lock you're trying to bump. Get Bumping! It might sound difficult, but even kids can bump locks once they are shown how it's done.
Resources A YouTube video with a demonstration of lock bumping follows. Legal Issues. Lockpicking. This is a repository of the most up-to-date versions of Deviant's lock diagrams and animations. Seen in all of the TOOOL educational materials and slide decks, these files are all released under the Creative Commons license. You are free to use any of them for non-commercial purposes, as long as they are properly attributed and the same freedom for others is maintained in all derivative works.
Please note that these diagrams have evolved and developed over time. While Deviant is still proud of the older versions of his images, if you still have copies of legacy material they should all be replaced with the latest versions available here. Each image shown below in thumbnail form can be accessed in high resolution individually, or you can obtain the full set from the zip archive at the bottom of this page. Lock Basics and Mechanical Operation How pin tumblers are arranged and how locks operate (or fail to) with conventional keys Introduction to Lockpicking Manipulation-Resistant Locks. Secret Agent Source-Lockpicking Videos. - StumbleUpon. - StumbleUpon.