AT&T Researcher Decodes Master Key

[Theophylact]

... to real-world locks. With a key, access to a lock that it fits, a small number of key blanks, and a file, you can create a master key in about ten minutes. Very bad news for security; there's little protection against such an exploit. In today's New York Times (FRYYY).

[dunbar]

But as the article went on to say, this is a previously known effect - locksmiths already knew about it. The security was that nobody knew....

[Theophylact]

As Bruce Schneier says repeatedly, secrecy is an impediment to security, not a safeguard.

[Theophylact]

Two earlier reports, courtesy of www.freedomtotinker.com (Edward Felten's blogspot).