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Actually glad that IT guy at Micro Center talked me out of that biometric lock

Back in May I went to the Micro Center in Cambridge to buy one of those fancy fingerprint padlocks for my server closet. Guy behind the counter said he'd seen too many fail after firmware updates bricked them. Told me to stick with a simple combo lock with a backup key. Three months later my neighbor's smart lock got hacked through some Bluetooth vulnerability. Makes me wonder why everyone pushed biometrics so hard without asking what happens when the power dies.
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3 Comments
davis.olivia
I bought a biometric lock for my gym locker last year and it stopped working after a software update. Just dead, no way to open it. Had to have the gym cut the lock off with bolt cutters. That store guy was right to warn you. People forget that simple mechanical locks don't need batteries or firmware updates. Biometrics look cool but they add too many failure points. A combo lock with a backup key is just smarter.
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emma_wells83
Hang on, mechanical locks can actually fail too. I had a master lock combo lock freeze up on me in the winter once, couldn't get it to turn no matter what I did. Had to get someone to cut it off with bolt cutters just like your digital lock. Nothing's totally foolproof, but you're right that digital stuff adds more weird failure points like dead batteries and glitchy software. A good old fashioned key lock is probably the most reliable option since there's nothing to freeze or die.
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fionafoster
Had to borrow bolt cutters from my neighbor last month for the exact same reason.
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