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Anyone who owns a key operates on the basic assumption that no one else has a copy, aside from select friends and family. The unique ridges and cuts along the top and side of the key are intended to provide a level of security for your car, your house, your file cabinet, or your safe.
But 3D printers may change that. A group of MIT students recently managed to replicate a Schlage key, one of the most high-security keys in existence, using nothing but a flatbed scanner and a digital program. They didn’t even have their own printer; they ordered the keys from Shapeways.
How Easily can Keys be Duplicated?
The Schlage keys were scanned on both sides to create the needed 3D model. But you don’t even need a physical copy of many keys to duplicate them; a photograph will do. The reason for this is that most modern locks use a set amount of pins and a fairly universal shape; that’s why it’s so difficult to remember which key opens your front door, and which key opens the back.
Schlage keys are designed to have a special set of grooves along the side to make duplication more difficult. However, all Schlage keys still have a similar shape. With the right model and a decent image of the key you need – say, a photo of a janitor’s belt or a picture of someone unlocking a safe – you could easily have your own working copy in just a few business days.
Security Worries
Being able to make a copy of a key to a safe or a car is worrisome enough. But the real problem comes from “universal” keys, meant to unlock a specific type of object. Locks made for handcuffs, elevators, and city buildings are intended to be universal among a set group of people; that way, any cop can unlock someone’s handcuffs, and any fireman can get to an elevator.
These universal keys are kept confidential among the people they are intended for, and usually have unique designs. However, if you got your hands on an image of one, you could feasibly unlock any pair of handcuffs in the state; the potential here is rather frightening.
Of course, duplicating keys isn’t quite that simple. You need access to the right software, a model of the type of key you want to match, and an incredibly high quality image of the key in questions. If the key has grooves along the side you can’t see, you still won’t be able to duplicate it. And if the door has a second lock, whether electronic or physical, you’ll need a backup plan.
Still, the existence of this software raises quite a few questions for the future of security. If images can become physical objects, what will be the security industry’s response?