Sandusky laptop wall "safe"

[PhoneMan]

I was given this wall safe because no one knew the combo, and the tamper alarm kept going off!:


We got 3 of these at the thrift store I work at, and were going to scrap them until I decided to have a whack at one, quite literally!
A 10 pound sledgehammer made short work of opening one, and I realized it had a bypass lock that appeared to be a very cheap wafer lock. It was!
Lock:


Upon opening one of the other un-smashed ones, I took out the batteries to stop the alarm, and then proceeded to look up info on the net, where I found the manufacturer's website and instructions on resetting combos, etc.
The administrator's password (combo) was still 123456!, but the user combo was changed, and to get instructions on resetting, you got to send them a notarized letter saying you own it, yadda yadda ya...

Well, It has what's called standard mode, and "hotel" mode, where in hotel mode, the user combo changes back to 1234 after each opening, allowing a guest to set their own number, and after opening it, resetting to default for the next guest. This is it's weakness in regards to changing the user number.
First, my unit was in standard mode, so I changed this by entering #40934093 then pressing 0 to switch modes, once in "hotel" mode, I changed it back to standard, and Bingo, the user # was once again 1234.
Not as secure as an actual safe, but not horrible either. I intend to replace the cam lock with something more secure as well.

[GWiens2001]

Nice find and solution. Found a Sentry (still can't even write it without laughing) safe with a lever lock for $10 at a thrift store with no key. Offered them $5, and they took it because it had been so long on the shelf. Picked it open with some picks made from bicycle spokes to see if it was any good (took all of a minute). Then used a blank from fgarci03 to impression a key. The small safe now resides in my son's room since he wanted it. . Otherwise it would have been sold cheap.

Gordon

[PhoneMan]

Those Sentrys aren't good for more than fire protection, especially the lever lock ones! This one is neat in that it's the only electronic one I have, and it does look kind of cool. Just not really a "safe", more of a locker.

[dll932]

Sentry safes with mechanical combo locks only have a limited number of combs you can change. I have a Sentry electronic safe-you can't change the comb at all! It has a secondary tubular key lock you HAVE to use every time if you really want it "secure."

Many times factory combs remain unchanged, especially on pushbutton locks.

[GWiens2001]

I agree about Sentry safes being garbage. I was just pointing out that some things can be found at thrift shops as Phoneman did. He found the better safe of the two. I just got it for impressioning practice on lever locks, picking practice for lever locks, and for a photo breakdown for which I have the pictures, but have not had the time to write up.

But my son sure is proud of having it!

Gordon

[MacGyver101]

. . . and to get instructions on resetting, you got to send them a notarized letter saying you own it, yadda yadda ya...

Replacing the camlock may not buy you that much security; they list the supposedly secret password reset code in another manual on their website. (It's a trivial Google search, but I'll leave it up to anyone who's curious to do the search, rather than post it here.)

I see these back-door reset codes (or hidden "admin" codes) frequently with cheap electronic locks, and I think it's horribly irresponsible of the manufacturers. If you're billing your product as a "security container", you owe it to your consumers to not have an undisclosed override code that anyone can download from your website: that's just ridiculous. Worse still if you claim that your client needs a notarized letter to obtain the override code... that suggests that, even if you have an override code, you at least have a procedure in place to try to protect your clients.

Another major manufacturer of consumer-grade "safes" did a similar thing with some of their lower-end models a few years ago (no, it wasn't Sentry); their electronic locks shipped with a default Admin code (that involved a series of simultaneous dual-key presses), and they only disclosed that there was an override code in some of their Owner's Guides... if you bought a model whose instructions didn't mention it, you'd never know to change it.

[PhoneMan]

Macgyver, I just found it, good grief! I'm glad I didn't pay for this thing! Plus, the whole idea of getting a notarized letter is a joke too, as I can print out a form, "claim" I own it, get someone at the bank to notarize it and send it in. Who's to say I'm not trying to get the code to someone else's safe?

You still can't beat a good group 2 dial when it comes to real security!

Update: the procedure outlined in the manual works!