Are key boxes secure?

Heighway61

Home help have advised my mother to get a key box with number pad for her front door.

I'm wondering how secure this would be. Anyone have one?

silver2020

We've had one for our mum for years and never an issue. I also have one at home myself just in case of emergency. Very easy to use an very easy to change the combination

It would be easier for a burglar to prise open a window than smash open a key box.

I'll edit this to say avoid cheap boxes and go to a locksmiths. If something is €20 you can't expect much from it.

https://crothers.ie/product/supra-c500-digital-key-safe-c500/

or

https://crothers.ie/product/burton-keyguard-keyguard-digital-xl-key-safe/

SlitDrip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118041924#Comment_118041924

Would you stop.

You can open them with a hammer.

L1011

In a word: No.

More specifically:

Most of them can be opened destructively with a table knife, let alone something more heavy duty.

Many of them have huge security flaws and can be opened non-destructively / non-discoverably with a sharp tap or a magnet

Pure mechanical numberpad ones can be 'decoded' by people with knowledge of how the lock works; electronic number pad ones need batteries and usually have a backup mechanical lock that may as well be made out of chocolate - wafer lock like an office set of drawers that can be opened with two paperclips.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118041924#Comment_118041924

The main brand sold here of combination keyboxes can be opened non-destructively - and in a manner that you'll never even know - with a bit of a cut up coke can. The person in this video uses a tool which is basically that but commercially made - a thin semi rigid bit of metal.

Many other brands use the same design. Someone can get your keys, get a copy cut, return them and then enter whenever they want.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2LvDHobpNc

(All Master Lock products are awful, as it happens).

silver2020

This is what I use https://crothers.ie/product/supra-c500-digital-key-safe-c500/

Can't see it being as easy to open as some suggest.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118042480#Comment_118042480

Mechanical = decodable. You basically tension up the lock with the handle and try keys to see how they "feel" to figure out potential codes. Like this example, using that specific model of lock!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCJA_A5lrM

I don't think there is a single model out there I'd trust to hold lunch money let alone keys to a house.

TheW1zard

Id have it open in seconds

melekalikimaka

I imagine after a break in when insurance realise it was a non destructive entry and you kept a key in a little box outside... claiming may be a challenge

Heighway61

Think I'll give the key box a miss. Can you get a coded lock built into the door? Would that require a new door?

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118042795#Comment_118042795

Depends very much on the door. Can often be retrofitted but may look rather ugly. Ugly vs the cost of a new door, though, is often an easy decision!

ongarite

What about this Yale smart door lock with either keyfob access or remote app control.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yale-SD-L1000-SN-Composite-Standard-Compatible/dp/B078SHN57D/

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118042686#Comment_118042686

That is in a lab setting. Someone demonstrating how they've "broken" a lock in a lab is not of great consequence.

pawdee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118042018#Comment_118042018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFhpctuUwb4

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118042893#Comment_118042893

Its flat on a table. Nothing being done you can't do on a wall.

There's plenty of stuff which are basically theorethical attacks but this is absolutely something you can do in a normal install. Or just smack it with a hammer.

Effects

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118041924#Comment_118041924

I wouldn't have lot of faith in locksmiths. There's a lot of lazy ones out there, who know little about the locks they sell, or how secure they are.

spaceHopper

You need to give them access to keys in an emergency, not for day to day access. Any mechanical key box can be picked. Best to get a good one and have it hidden somewhere. For example in a shed behind the door so you would never know it's there unless told where to look. Or cover it with something.