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A security researcher who goes by the nickname of Plore has bypassed the security locks of the Armatix IP1 smart pistol by using only three magnets worth $15.
The researcher showed off his findings at this year's DEF CON security conference, held in Las Vegas last week.
The gun uses a simple locking system to prevent unauthorized firing. For someone to shoot the small pistol, he needs to wear a watch that sends an authorization token via radio signals to the gun and activates the trigger.
Armatix launched the IP1 smart gun in 2014 and marketed it as a way to prevent thieves or children from firing the gun. The IP1 is currently sold for prices varying from $1,400 to $1,800.
Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/technology/smart-pistol-locking-system-foiled-by-15-magnets/
(Score: 2) by captain_nifty on Wednesday August 02 2017, @06:54PM
This is actually a very common problem for any solenoid actuated device.
This same weakness also applies to a number of electronic gun safes, which also use a simple solenoid for the locking mechanism. In addition these safes can be opened by rapid acceleration moving the solenoid, like dropping the safe or hitting it against a table. Wouldn't be surprised if the gun had a similar flaw, hold down the trigger and slam the gun down onto a hard surface just right rapidly decelerating moving the solenoid.
Simple solenoids will always be prone to these kinds of failure modes, but the engineer is faced with size constraints and the need for a linear locking mechanism and rediscovers the solenoid and tries again. Never thinking about how could this fail, they should never be implemented in a system being designed for security without additional safeguards in place.