Can All Locks Be Picked

Can Every Lock be Picked?

We recently started our YouTube Channel where I discuss our favorite locks. Often we’re talking about the best locks for a specific function.

For example, “What’s the best lock to stop lock bumping,” What’s the best padlock to just keep honest people honest,” etc…We see a lot of comments about how a specific lock can be bypassed, “That lock can be picked using XYC….” or “So and so shows how to bypass that lock.”

The reality is that nearly every lock can be picked and if not picked, bypassed using some other method. The secret to security is having locks that are extremely difficult to pick and or bypassed. You want a pick-resistant lock that only an expert can get through, and there are plenty of those.

Jump to:

Why Are Locks Easy to Pick Now?
Why Do People Release Lock Picking Information?
What Can I do to Stop Lock Picking?
Are There Any Locks that Can’t be Picked or Bypassed?

Why Can Nearly All Locks Be Picked or Bypassed?

It’s that dang internet. It’s not that locks are easier to pick, in fact they’ve become much harder to pick. But with the internet information is more widely available now than every before.

In our Lock Bumping video, we talked about how to open a lock using lock bumping. This technique was used by our Mesa unlock service for many years and practically no-one knew of it. But with YouTube and other information being posted on line, now anyone with $3 for a key and an internet connection can now have everything they need to get into your home in just a few seconds (if you haven’t protected your home from this break-in technique).There are YouTubers who make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year by creating videos showing people how to pick locks and bypass locks.

The LockPickingLawyer is one of the most popular. He will get a lock, tear it apart, figure out how to bypass it, and then post that information in a video for everyone to see. If you’ve got a lock, he likely has a video showing how to pick it.

In some cases, it’s not picking the lock that gets you past it. It’s some other technique that someone has figured out and posted a video one. Here’s one where we get into a locked door using a piece of plastic.

In other cases, special bypass tools have been built that target a specific brand of lock and allow someone to bypass it. These products are designed to get past specific locks and/or lock brands.

Why Do People Release Lock Picking Guides?

Depending on who you ask, you’ll get one of these three answers.

1. 1. Education. Even I have shown videos on how to pick locks or get into homes using a variety of techniques. It’s important that homeowners and business owners know where their security flaws are.The main difference between what I, a licensed locksmith at ACME Locksmith, do and what others are doing is that in each video I release, I show the viewer how to STOP someone from using that technique to bypass their locks.This piece of information that is so important. It is what separates those who putt you at risk from those helping you solve a problem.

1. To Drive Technology. Someone releasing these videos might say that they are pushing lock manufactures to improve their locks and drive technology to create better security.I don’t really buy their argument though. Why? Because as soon as a new product is released to fix an existing issue, they get the new product, tear it down, and figure out how to pick or bypass the lock.So whatever jump in technology is made, money grabbers just figure out how to get passed it and then release that new information.
2. Money. The prime motivation. There is a lot of money to be made on sites when you can achieve millions of followers.One site estimates the LockPickingLawyer can be making as much as $50,000 per month from his online lock picking videos. And, though he may have one, I haven’t found a single video of him recommending products that are the best for a given application or price point. You need this information to make sure your locks are the best you can afford for your situation.

How to Stop Lock Picking and Bypassing

Think about lock picking prevention as a 90/10 rule. 90% of the locks out there today can easily be bypassed by someone with limited skills. It may be lock picking or it may be using a bypass tool or other technique to get past the lock, but nearly all can be bypassed.

What’s the other 10%? These are the locks that would either require a lot of skill to pick or they are the locks that can’t be picked and require a lot of other types of effort to get past (drilling for example).

If you want locks that are in the 10%. Forget about buying anything you can get at a big box store. You need a locksmith and a specialty product or high security lock.

Here are Locks That Can’t be Easily Picked or Bypassed

Here are our favorite pick-resistant (or pick proof) locks. See this for all of our best door lock products.

1. High Security Locks. Most locks rely on a simple set of pins that align when a key is inserted to spin a cylinder. High security locks use other techniques in addition to the pins. Side bars and side dimples are the most common. These locks use keys that don’t look like your regular keys. Just about all high-security locks will offer you protection beyond what a common criminal will know.

   

   Our favorite most-secure brand is by Mul-t-lock. Their interactive lock has been bypassed using a custom specialty tool and by extremely practiced and skilled locksmith, but both are VERY rare and require an extreme amount of practice and patience. Most professional locksmiths will work their entire lives practicing their skills and not be able to pick these locks.

   You most-likely won’t run into someone trying to get into your property that has either. Your local locksmith may carry the Mul-t-lock product and that is the best place to get it since you’ll have a local source for the high-security keyway required, but you can also find Mul-t-lock priced extremely well on Amazon.

2. The Best Home Deadbolt – Half Deadbolts – Pick Proof
   

   This is a great way to make your door 100% pick proof. However, unless you have experience prepping doors for new locks, you will want to hire a local locksmith to install it.

   Half deadbolts have NO keyhole on the outside of the lock. In fact, there is no indication from the outside of the door that a lock is even installed!

   You can read details of the lock in our webpage. It is absolutely the best lock you can put on your home to stop lock picking.

3. Our #1 Home Security Tip – Pick Proof After Market Product.

   

   There is an add-on product that will turn any existing deadbolt into a pick-proof deadbolt. It works by locking the thumb turn of a deadbolt in place.

   Most people aren’t aware that when you use a key to turn a cylinder the thumb turn on the inside of the door rotates. When you lock the deadbolt thumb turn in place, the lock cannot be opened. It can be picked, and it can’t be opened even with a working key!

   This add-on product makes existing deadbolts pick proof. We carry this lock in all of our shops and we sell it on our website with free shipping.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.