DefconCl
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The Lockdown: Your new Targus Defcon CL lock, hacked by beer
Noted security expert Marc Weber Tobias contributes a new column, The Lockdown, exposing the shoddy security you may depend on. If you thought that this hefty looking lock was secure? Think again. Marc Weber Tobias and Matt Fiddler demonstrate how the Targus Defcon CL security device can be defeated in seconds with a piece of metal from a beer can, or with a paper clip. Its Targus time!A security analysis of this new product was prompted by a recent call from a technology reporter at the St. Paul Pioneer Press. This was the same journalist that wrote a detailed story about laptop locks in September 2004 that followed our security alert regarding the Defcon, wherein we described the simple method to decode its combination and quickly open it.Based upon the Targus press release and verbiage on the product packaging that extolled the Defcon CL Armor as having "more cut resistance and greater protection against cable cutters than other leading security cables," an associate and I decided to revisit the security of the new design and see if Targus has learned anything about the design of security products in the last two years. Evidently not! We sought to determine the new lock's resistance to both covert and forced methods of entry. As a result, an updated security alert and technical analysis has been posted on www.security.org and Engadget, together with a video that demonstrates how easy this lock can be compromised. Based upon our findings, I think it is fair to say that the latest Targus lock is on the cutting edge -- literally.
