The Danger of Key Cloning

Most people are not as careful with their keys as they should be but it seems like that is about to change. Lately the public is becoming more aware of a new, state-of-the-art threat to their security – key cloning.

Although this is not exactly a new phenomenon most people still do not know that among all the other services provided on the Web they can also have their keys duplicated online.  Who would believe that? After all, we all know that you need to find a good locksmith if you want to have your keys duplicated, or do you?

It isn’t difficult to get your keys duplicated online.  All you need to do is take a photo of your key, upload it to a website and pay.  They will duplicate your key and have a copy sent to the address that you provide within six days.

“This is very worrisome,” said an owner of one of California’s top locksmith businesses, “when somebody brings a key into our shop we duplicate it and then they are gone.  But if you send a picture of your key along with your address and other information to a company that you do not know, online, they will still have a copy of your information even after they have sent you the key. How can that not worry you?”

Think about it, if you leave your key unattended, just a few minutes, anybody could take a photo of it and have it duplicated without your knowledge.  Life just got a whole lot easier for auto thieves.

Just knowing about the existence of this website should be enough to make us pay more attention to what we do with our keys.  We can’t just leave them on our office desks anymore or even on a table or shelf at home, because we don’t know who might come in and take a photo of them when we leave the room for a moment.

To test if this could pose a real danger to us I decided to check the website out for myself.  I know that one of my colleagues always empties his pockets before sitting at his desk, so I waited for him to leave the room for a moment and I took a picture of his car key with my cell phone.  I sent the picture of the key to be duplicated online and a few days later I received a brand new key.  I invited my colleague to join me while I successfully unlocked his car with my new key.  Piece of cake!

I, for one, am definitely going to be a lot more careful with my home and car keys from now on.