The Link Between The World's Smallest Combination Lock And IT

from the mechanical,-digital,-who-cares? dept

It's common to look for digital solutions to digital problems, but with the growing interest in MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) people are beginning to realize that there is a place for tiny mechanics in a digital world. The latest is a tiny mechanical lock that clamps shut if the wrong combination is entered - and won't open again until manually reset by its owner. The creators of the lock claim that it makes it "virtually impossible to break in to websites", which seems to be only asking for trouble. Based on just this article, I could already see how someone could cause problems for anyone using such a system. Just keep sending an incorrect passcode. Each time, the machine will lock up, and no one will be able to access it until it's been manually unlocked - at which point a new incorrect passcode can be sent again.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 5 Mar 2003 @ 12:23pm

    No Subject Given

    If the locks are nano, just make a million of 'em, then each user can be locked out individually.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    bbay, 5 Mar 2003 @ 4:22pm

    not terribly useful

    Why would I want a hardware gadget to do this? I'm not convinced that it would be any more effective than an analogous software mechanism.

    And if the most widespread attacks were based on password guessing, this might actually be a useful technique. But how exactly does it protect against a buffer overflow or other attack that takes place outside of normal functional channels, as most attacks do?

    A Quote:
    "This device has a powerful potential - one that is readily understood by almost everyone," said Larry Dalton, manager of Sandia's High Integrity Software Systems Engineering Department. "I've been told by Department of Defense people that this is the first real technical advancement in information security that they've seen in a long time."

    Yeesh, I guess I just don't get it. And who at the DoD said that? One of the cleaning staff?

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.