Hack Vs Hacksaw
With the onset of the traditional school year1 this hack for preserving the combinations of multiple locks in spite of an imperfect memory and without the need for lists of numbers or other organizational devices is timely; it is also, in the best tradition of hacks, clever, simple, and easy to implement – yet cryptic.
The Cryptic Step2
The key to the hack is developing a single personal uncomplicated, easy to recall algorithm for encrypting combinations that is also simple to reverse to recover the combination and that you can consistently use for any number of locks. Three methodologies that fit these criteria follow; just choose whichever appeals to you.
Method #1
To encrypt a typical lock combination of three two-digit numbers, you first need a series of three numbers that you use so often or are so important to you that you can always, even in moments of stress, call them to mind. The classical example is ones birthday; unfortunately, it is so classic and obvious that I recommend against using it.3 Other, more obscure possibilities include the last six digits of a phone number, the first or last six digits of your social security number, etc. Ideally, these would be numbers unlikely to change in the future (e.g., your social security number).
The next step of the original hack is to add your three personal numbers (the ones you just derived from your address or social security number or whatever) to the three numbers of the lock’s combination.4
For example,
If your personal numbers are 16 \ 05 \ 11
and the lock combination is 02 \ 17 \ 23
The encryption result would be 18 \ 22 \ 34
which is (16 + 02) \ (05 + 17) \ (11 + 23)
Decrypting the result to retrieve the original combination requires subtracting your personal numbers. In our example, the decryption of the result 18 \ 22 \ 34 would be
18 – 16 = 2
22 – 05 = 17
34 – 11 = 23
which gives you the original lock combination 02 \ 17 \ 23
Method #2
You systematically (i.e., use a consistent method to) hide the combination in a jumble of other, meaningless numbers.
For example, if the encrypted number is this ordering of digits,
Two meaningless digits followed by
First (two-digit) number of the combination followed by
One meaningless digit followed by
Second (two-digit) number of the combination followed by
One meaningless digit followed by
Third (two-digit) number of the combination followed by
Any number of meaningless digits
then the combination 02 \ 17 \ 23 could become 380221782323211 (depending on how many meaningless digits follow the final number of the combination)
While the original hack just calls for remembering the process used, I suggest making it a bit easier by using the first or last digits of the series as a memory aid. In the example, 380221782323211, the “211″ at the end would be a reminder of the meaningless digits, i.e., to decode the series skip the first two digits, retrieve the next pair of digits from the combination, then skip one digit, retrieve the next pair of digits from the combination, then skip one digit, and retrieve the final pair of digits from the combination.
Method #3
Set up a number-letter substitution cipher. You’ll need a sequence of 10 non-repeating letters that you can always remember. Those 10 letters will represent the digits 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0, in that order.
For example, if the letter sequence is L-O-C-K-N-U-M-B-E-R,
L = 1
O = 2
C = 3
K = 4
N = 5
U = 6
M = 7
B = 8
E = 9
R = 0
and the combination is 02 \ 17 \ 23
The encrypted result is RO\LM\OC
The Sharpie Step
Using a non-smearing, permanent marker, write the encrypted result of whatever method you used5 on the lock itself.
Salvation
Retrieve the lock from the back of that drawer where your kid stashed it three years ago in the festivities occasioned by the end of that school term, note the encrypted result scrawled on the lock, decrypt as indicated, and bask in the contentment of a job well done.
The Last Chance
If (1) you didn’t use this hack (or if you can’t even remember your birthday), (2) your lock is manufactured by Master, and (3) you have a bit of patience, then there is one more way to open that lock without resorting to explosives, liquid nitrogen, chain cutters, or that guy your cousin Vince knows: How to recover a combination to a lost Master combination pad lock
Credit Due Department
Never lose a lock combination again
Footnotes
- The traditional school year designation is acknowledgement that a growing minority of schools, at least two of which employ friends of mine, are on year-round schedules↩
- OK, the title would be more accurately rendered “The Encrypting Step,” but that would avoid the simple but cryptic pseudo-paradox which is one of my few original contributions to this post.↩
- If you cannot remember any number other than your birthday or your kids’ birthdays, those numbers can be safely used in an atypical order (e.g., use them in reverse such that 08/17/56 (August 17, 1956) becomes 56/17/08 or start in the middle, dividing them into two-digit pairs such that 08/17/56 becomes 75/60/81, etc. This method, however, adds the extra step of recalling the basis for the atypical order↩
- Because decrypting sometimes has to be done under some stress and some folks find their subtraction skills less reliable in those situations, I suggest encrypting by subtracting your three personal numbers from the three numbers of the lock’s combination so that the decrypting consists of adding the numbers back, but that’s just a personal preference↩
- This is not the occasion, by the way, to show your work.↩
