euro cylinders part two

When you are talking about forceful entry, all cylinders above the

20US$ range have protection against drilling. The further protection against breaking off the cylinder and manipulating the lock mechanism itself is a matter of proper installation of shielding plates and has nothing to do with the euro profile.

Hi Ralph, I agree that external protection is required but there are millions out there with no protection and no means of providing either due to the design of the doors and lock casing. Drilling rarely occurs. In the UK and probably elsewhere there is no legal definition of the term High Security but I see adverts every day for so called high security doors with completely unprotected euro cylinders that cost about £2.00. The consumer has no idea and the prevailing CEN standards are a joke.

Regards

Yes, this is definetely true :(

We have some classification from the insurances (VDS classes,

but they also are valid for some cylinders I would not call secure at all. At least you are on the safe side, regarding the insurance issue...

The problem is, usually they come away with it. Attacking the cylinder for simple burglary is extremely rare, usually just a window is smached or the door pried open with force. But now and then it happens that there is no evidence of burglary, but things are missing. Then you really get into trouble when you want to make an insurance claim. The lust have a look at your lock and laugh at you when it is a 5EUR lock from a hardware store, and they point at the small paragraphs at the back of your insurance contract. "Sufficient security measures", or something like that. Maybe you have read it without understanding what it means, or you even did not read it at all when signing the paper...

It would seem all cylinders are open to attack unless they are made drill resistant and unless there is some feature to prevent forcible removal. In the latter case a strongly made ring may suffice for round mortise cylinders such that the ring and not the cylinder will rotate if a pipe wrench or similar is used. For Euro or oval cylinders a strong faceplate suitably fastened to the door, preferably designed so the face of the cylinder is flush with it would make forcible removal more difficult.

Hi Peter,

Fitting a strong bolt through face plate does nothing at all against two highly efficient bypassing methods. One of the bypassing methods is pretty generic but the other works a treat of euro profiles. There are some superb professional bypassing tools coming into the UK from Germany. I bought one for my research project and even a total novice did the business on a euro in under 17 seconds. The tool is expensive at £250 but will work 99.99% of the time on euros, ovals, rims, screw mortice etc. Having spent my hard earned I developed a method that doesnt require the tool and will do the honours on a euro in under 1 second. Ive been a master locksmith for 25 years and my little discovery scares the hell out of me. I have a patent running on a device that stops even professional tools and can be retro fitted to any size and type of euro. I have an ethical dilema: To make lots of money I would need to disclose my knowledge and that would cause an increase in the fear of crime and crime itself. If I stay silent I will make a little money and have to wait until the criminals learn for themselves just how easy it can be. All locksmiths are crime prevention specialists to some degree and it looks like Im going to have to use a softly softly approach.

Regards

I would suggest that you take this discussion further in some of the secure access locksmith only forums:

etc