Back in July, hacker Cody Brocious, a Mozilla software developer and security researcher, exposed a way to hack into the very common Onity hotel room keycard locks. The device he built costs less than $50 and can breach the lock within seconds by reading a digital key stored in the lock's memory. The embarrassing demonstration had chains of hotels around the world worried about their customers security and sparked a chain of hotel room burglaries.
Upon first addressing the problem, Onity only stated that it would provide a cap that would cover the data port which is the connection needed to hack the lock. However, as of lately they have been looking to provide a more extensive solution to the problem. For some hotel chains, Onity has agreed to to upgrade and replace the circuit boards at their own expense as necessary. While some hotels, which have locks made before 2005 or those located outside the United States, may not be so lucky. For those customers Onity offered to replace the hardware inside the lock for $21 per lock, or they could settle to use the free plastic plugs Onity is sending out.
Onity has stated they have been making sure a solution gets shipped to all its customers as of recently. According to Forbes, “As of November 30, 2012, Onity has shipped 1.4 million solutions for locks to hotel properties. Over the next several weeks, we will ensure all hotel properties in our database receive the mechanical solution.” The “mechanical solution” being the plastic plugs.
It is disturbing knowing someone clever enough to think of the solution can hack into the common hotel room with ease. Onity should have took action immediately when Cody Brocious first demonstrated how easy it could be to hack their locks. Hopefully the mechanical plugs will be reliable enough to provide a solution for those hotels not fortunate enough to receive the replacement boards. Whatever the case, hopefully Onity's future locks will prove to be more secure.
Here is an example of the hack:
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