I moved house a while back and the place came with one of those Air BnB style key boxes on the front made by Master Lock. There was nothing in the handover about it and it was likely that it had belonged to the previous previous owners as it looked unloved for a long time.

It has kept me up at night a little worrying about previous owners coming back, or someone turning up and guessing the codes to get keys. It has been on a rather long todo list to get into it.

There was a recent break in across the street so I have been thinking more about it. I was sticking a memorable to me 4 digit code on it and then checking on it periodically. This morning I found someone had changed the digits significantly. So that meant someone was very likely messing with it recently. The task leapt a few places to top priority.

Turned out it took me, a complete moron with no physical security experience, approximately 15 minutes to get into one of these… Using chopped up top trumps cards. Here are my weapons:

The theory is nice and simple and fully explained at the video below:

It is a little concerning that it was this easy to do so. I am also curious as to what would happen with insurance if we were robbed by someone who obtained a key and then used it to rob us. Isn’t there something about it not being a break in? I am not sure.

PS: for the terminally curious;

• There was nothing inside it.
• The code was likely a year of birth.

Take care