Taking the ibutton to the next level

[macgeek]

Well, we segway owners proud!
You all know how I love to intergrate my segway into my life, And as many of you know I also am a Home Automater (HA!) and love gadgets, gizmos and doo dads... Well recently I started looking at new Door locks for my house and was thinking of using a HID Prox card, when all of a sudden a Light (Well, A Blinky!) went off in my head and I thought Use the iButton As a entry key, so after some research I came across this!

http://cgi.ebay.com/iBUTTON-ACCESS-CONTROL-SMART-HOME-DOOR-SECURITY-NEW_W0QQitemZ200000441781QQihZ010QQcategoryZ98855Q QssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Sweeeeeeeeet!

Jonathan

[florin]

Hi Jonathan,

If you like that, then you probably will like more of the things they have here: http://www.maxim-ic.com/products/ibutton/solutions/search.cfm

[cmonkey]

I've been wanting to do this for some time... just out of my budget at the moment.

http://www.ibuttonlock.com/product/Residential.htm
http://www.ibuttonlock.com/product/Door.htm

[skydiver]

One red key can run my whole life!

[MagiMike]

http://www.accesspilot.com/
Another source of i-button locks for the home

[Isidore]

I've thought of this too but I hope there is a way of making them harder to copy than Segway keys otherwise you might as well hand them out on the street corner to anyone that wants one!

[joe]

I've thought of this too but I hope there is a way of making them harder to copy than Segway keys otherwise you might as well hand them out on the street corner to anyone that wants one!

I believe they use the (fixed) iButton serial number for the locks instead of the (programmable) data pages. It is a lot harder to copy a serial number (actually, it is impossible to copy it to another iButton but it is possible to "simulate" an iButton with active equipment).

--
Johannes

[bystander]

I've thought of this too but I hope there is a way of making them harder to copy than Segway keys otherwise you might as well hand them out on the street corner to anyone that wants one!As joe indicates, most of the consumer door lock products seem to use the ibutton's built in serial number only. This means that you can't let the keys out of your sight (just like the Segway key) because an unscrupulous associate could read the code from it, then "play it back" on an ibutton emulator.

However, there is a way to make them harder to copy. But the extra level of security has to be built into the part of the product that reads the key. I don't know if the design of existing HTs already in the field are flexible enough to allow a firmware update to support a more secure key format.

Anyway, there is one ibutton, the DS1991 (http://www.maxim-ic.com/quick_view2.cfm?qv_pk=2830), that has a more elaborate challenge phrase / passcode arrangement. If the key is stolen outright, you need to remove it from the base lock's database as soon as possible, just like a regular serial number based ibutton system.

But if it's just "borrowed", the borrower can only read the serial number, not the passcode. And only the passcode can activate the product. This ibutton is the kind used in "dongles" that go on the parallel or serial port on PCs that are used to protect high cost software installations.

I haven't come across any consumer-type door locks that use this extra level of security, though. And it is impractical to keep a PC powered up 24/7 just to allow the lock on a door to work.

Of course, going to a higher level of security might mean that personal key-tweaking as we know it today would become a thing of the past. If something like the DS1991 were to be used in the future, because there is a challenge / pw dialog, the HT would have to be "taught" to recognize each key. And connecting the HT directly to a user's computer may open the door to unforeseen hacking opportunities, so Segway, Inc. may not be anxious to escalate key security at this time.

[sBucko]

Not that I'm a ring were'er but no more WHERE ARE MY KEYS

http://www.maxim-ic.com/products/ibutton/solutions/product.cfm?ID=249

[bystander]

Not that I'm a ring were'er but no more WHERE ARE MY KEYS

http://www.maxim-ic.com/products/ibutton/solutions/product.cfm?ID=249
I don't know if this outfit is still in business since Maxim took over, but look at all the possibilities available at one time:

http://www.mrioftx.com/old/ibutton2.html

http://www.mrioftx.com/old/jpring_sm.jpg http://www.mrioftx.com/old/ring2.gif http://www.mrioftx.com/old/metalcard.jpg http://www.mrioftx.com/old/watch.jpg http://www.mrioftx.com/old/keeper.gif http://www.mrioftx.com/old/wallet.gif http://www.mrioftx.com/old/keys2.gif http://www.mrioftx.com/old/snapinfob.jpg