Don’t think your home is secure just because your doors are locked

When you lock your doors and turn off the lights, you feel you’ve done your part to keep your family safe for another night. But if you truly believe that, it’s important you understand that unless you have bump proof locks, you are not truly secure.

Using a technique called lock bumping, anyone who knows how to use Google can pick your lock in under 60 seconds.

The act of lock bumping might sound new to you but rest assured – criminals have been doing it for decades. A bump key is a key that’s been cut in a certain way so that when inserted in a pin tumbler lock and tapped in a particular way, the pins in the lock cylinder are released and the door opens.

The first US patent for a bump key appeared in 1928 but surprisingly it wasn’t until around 2002 that the use of a bump key was seen as a possible security threat.

Today you can purchase bump keys on the Internet for a couple of dollars and learning how to use one to gain entry into a home is very easy, again, thanks to the Internet. An intruder can open your door using a bump key within seconds.

There are a couple of ways you can protect your home being entered with a bump key:

Buy a bump proof lock. There are several manufacturers today making bump proof locks.  A bump proof lock system is more expensive than a regular lock, but it’s an important investment in your home’s safety.

Have your lock bump proofed. Your local locksmith can convert your standard lock into a bump proof one for a very small amount of money.

Please do not make the mistake of assuming that your expensive door locks can’t be bumped because ironically, the more expensive locks are easier to bump. Because they’re more accurately machined, locks made of tougher steel are easier to open with a bump key because they’ll hardly sustain any damage during the bumping process. Whereas a cheap lock likely won’t be able to resist the strength of the knock it receives during a bump cause it not to turn as the intruder hopes it will.