Costco sentry safe how to#

But it forgot about the concept of magnetism, which allows the little pin in the center of the solenoid to be activated from outside of the safe with a magnet, thus allowing the bolt work to be moved to an open state. Sentry designed its solenoid so that it could not be vibrated open, as we graphically demonstrated with Stack-On and Amsec containers. Solenoids are used by a lot of different manufacturers and, unless they are implemented properly, allow containers to be easily opened with magnets, shock and vibration. Solenoids are simple coils with a ferrous pin that moves through the center of the coil to allow the bolt work to be locked or unlocked by the coil’s movement. Its engineers were so focused on making the best fire safe that they forgot about the basic concepts of security-engineering and how easy it is to compromise the critical locking component in their safes: a solenoid. This, in my view, is precisely the problem at Sentry.

Costco sentry safe how to#

The story is always the same, and is often repeated: they learn how to make things work in school, but have little or no clue as to how to break them. We work with design engineers for some of the largest lock companies in the world. Our lab repeatedly tests locks and safes that can be opened easily because of the lack of security expertise in most of the overseas facilities that produce products sold in this country. It still produces its containers in the U.S., a rarity these days because, as I have noted in previous articles about gun safes, most everything in the security sector is made in China (and most of it is junk and definitely not secure). Sentry is owned by Master Lock, a division of Fortune Brands Home & Security and a company that’s been around for eighty years. Who is SentrySafe, and how did this happen? Sentry’s argument is that a burglar would have to know how to open the safe and have the requisite-strength magnet, but that begs the question: If there is no representation as to some level of security by Sentry, then why put a lock on the door? But these safes can be opened in moments by a kid with a rare-earth magnet bought on the Internet. So what does the term “security” exactly mean in the context of a fire safe? In my view as a lawyer, it connotes an implied representation that the container has at least some level of security to protect the contents from attack, at least a couple minutes of delay to discourage a hurried burglar would be reasonably expected. That would include just about everyone that shops at locations such as Amazon, Sam’s, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Wal-Mart, Costco, Staples, OfficeMax, Target, and all of the other retailers in the Sentry distribution channel. More importantly, the packaging for this particular safe has a padlock icon and the word security, which is an implied representation that it is in fact secure, at least to the unsophisticated buyer. It appears to be made of strong materials, it has a digital keypad to lock it, and it is called a safe.

The problem is that the consumer sees an 86-pound container and it looks to be secure. SentrySafe has a good reference guide that talks about this. There are very few containers that are rated for both burglary and fire. Burglarly safes are designed to prevent break-ins through the use of force or covert attacks, rather than compromise from fire, high temperatures, water, and dropping the container up to thirty feet (which could occur during a fire if the safe fell through a floor). There is a fundamental difference between fire and burglary-rated safes which I would imagine most consumers do not fully understand. It’s a fire safe meant to protect valuables and documents in the event of a fire. To be fair, the SentrySafe is not meant to thwart burglars. SentrySafe is one the most recognized brands for protecting contents from fire and are sold at major office supply and hardware stores. These safes are manufactured in Rochester, N.Y. The day before we arrived, he had gone to Costco and purchased a new fire safe ( Model # SFW123FTC ) produced by SentrySafe. He is flamboyant, clever, and comes from a long line of locksmiths in his family. Locksmith through his multiple locations in Vancouver and Calgary. Last month I was in Vancouver, Canada in meetings with Terry Whin-Yates, one of Western Canada’s most famous and experienced locksmiths.

But this story is as much about how their design engineers violated one of the simpler rules of security engineering as it is about what the company is going to do about it.

The leading and most respected fire safe manufacturer in North America has designed one of its most popular containers with a fatal security flaw that can allow the three different versions to be opened in one second.