And you thought you were really secure - Security Cylinders

And you thought you were really secure - Security Cylinders

So lets imagine you have invested in the latest BS EN1303 security cylinder, it supports, the Anti snapping, Anti Picking, Anti Bumping and then for belts and braces you decide to go for that security handle, or security escutcheons to protect the cylinder.

You then realize you need a few extra copy keys , so off you pop down to your local heal bar.
‘Morning can you cut me a few copies of this key?
Yes, no problem’ replies the assistant.

Happy with your purchase off you go home, later that day in your home feeling all secure and perhaps a bit smug, having a cup of tea, do you start thinking. ‘Hmmm I have just spent all that money on new cylinders, escutcheons and handles and yet I can go down the local heal bar and get copy keys cut with no hassle what so ever’

The reason is that the keys are what we call in the trade are on an open profile, in other words to keep the costs of tooling down the plug has the same key shape as the less secure cylinders.

However, before you go buying the latest this and that when cylinders are concerned take into consideration also, the security of the key.

There are normally three grades of keys, Open Profile, as we have mentioned before, Restricted Profile, and Patent Profiles.

Restricted Profiles, implies there is a degree of control over the key and copies, normally these blanks are not available to the general heal bar and in most cases are registered to a single or perhaps a few locksmiths which trade possibly hundreds of miles away from each other, therefore, the chances they would never cross trade.

Here at Locksonline we offer restricted profiles and if requested we will register the key against your name. Certain numbers are engraved onto the keys and from this number we can ascertain if the key is registered. If so procedures are in place to check and/or challenge a key to be cut. The downside, however, is that it is not illegal to have them copied and there are machines on the market that can also cut the profile of the key as well as the depths.

Then there is the daddy! Patent Keys, the same can be said as above for Patent keys, but now you have the full weight of the law to protect the unauthorized duplication of the key. All the same checks and balances are in place similar to restricted keys, but with us at Locksonline we register all keys to the customers, we keep a record of every request that the customer makes for extra keys. Now if you loose your keys, or someone takes them you can feel safe in the knowledge that they just cant pick up a copy from the local heal bar and then gain access days if not weeks later when you least expect it to your home.

So invest a couple of quid more on your security and make sure the profile keys are patent protected, now you can truly say you have belts and braces when it comes to your security.

Patent profiles have a shelf life, in other words they are not patent protected for ever, with our Locksonline Patent protected BS EN 1303 Anti Pick, Anti Bump, Anti Snap Evva cylinders have patent protected until 2025.
We very much hope that this has given you an insight to key protection as well as cylinders. Pop in to our site when your surfing next, pop an email off, or check out our live chat

www.locksonline.co.uk

Many Thanks
Darrel Walters
Head of the Tech Team
Locksonline Ltd.

This blog is the Intellectual Property of Darrel Walters author and LocksOnline Ltd. 2012 Free to copy to anyone who finds it useful to list on forums or in your blogs, To all our competitors, don't take our content, ideas and images, try to be original and create your own.