Locks, SKG, the chalange

Whenever I move in to a new appartement, a new office building or take on the responsibility of other property that is secured by a cylinder lock, I exchange it.

The old cylinder and all it's associated keys will be documented and stored for later retrieval.

The new cylinder will be bought by me, at a store I trust and with a security certificate I like and I pay attention that _nothing_ that can identify me or my location gets associated with the certificate for I would not like to have to worry about the where abouts of that data since it is not under my control [the certificate can be used to remake a key without having a copy of the key].

So I pay by cash and have a second lock smith do the installation.

The appartment I moved in recently is a newly build complex. About a 1.000 appartments have been build by 45 different subcontracters who dig holes, lay pipes, pull wires, connect walls, paint doors and insert locks. For whatever it is worth: I do not trust them. The change that one of the workers copies the cuts of my particular key is just something that makes me feel uncomfortable.

Personally I know too little about the inner workings of locks to be able make a valid judgement about the grade of the lock, so I will buy only stff that does comply with the toughest international standards, including ISO 9001/2000, UL, CEN, VDS, SKG, CPC and A2P. Or when in Holland, the SKG [Stichting Kwaliteit Gevelbouw].

It is amazing to see that the price difference between a SKG ** and *** is rather low in comparison to the added features. One of the features I find a must have is the bump key proofing of locks. But all of this is just to prevent the damage free opening of the door.

Other measures need to be taken to prevent the more common 'crowbar style' and the 'Bulgarian' method [drilling]. A good resource of more information on the topic is The Open Organisation Of Lockpickers' that is credited with spreading the word on the issue in Holland, but even more important the concept behind high security lock design by Ross Kinard.