Here's Yet Another Way for Thieves to Break Into Your Hotel Room

July 23, 2012 at 1:09 PM | by juliana | Comments (2)

It seems like once a year we hear about some nefarious new way for thieves to break into hotel rooms using both sophisticated and not-so-sophisticated gadgets to do so. (Metal hangers anyone?)

This year's hack comes courtesy of a software developer and security researcher named Cody Brocious who recently told Forbes.com that his less than $50 invention can break the locks installed on hotel room doors by lock manufacturer, Onity. Onity has done about four and five million hotel room doors around the world. Yikes, right? However, don't write off staying in hotels forever just yet.

Brocious' open source hardware only works on Onity's locks that have DC power ports. These are typically found at the bottom of the door handle, somewhere we'd never even think to look. You can read all about how the technology works here but in short, we're pretty sure your everyday thieves aren't going to be able to pull it off. Not to mention, Brocious' only gadget only works sometimes. So we've got that going for us.

Still, it's clear that our safety is not always guaranteed in hotel rooms. Which is why, as annoying as it is, we always appreciate hotels that require a keycard to work the elevators. And even though someone really determined could pop open the safety latch that's on the inside of a hotel room door, we never go to sleep without chaining that bad boy up.

What are your tried and true safety precautions when staying in a hotel? Share 'em in comments below!

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