In August 2025, a demonstration at the DEF CON hackers conference in Las Vegas sparked a wave of curiosity—and concern—among safe owners. Researchers showed how a small Raspberry Pi computer could be used to access certain SECURAM electronic locks, leading many to question how secure their safes really are. But according to professional safe technicians, the reality is far less alarming.

Nearly all electronic locks have built-in “back doors” meant for authorized service and recovery, not for easy hacking. In fact, the safe industry has long worked like the tech world—constantly releasing updated models to fix vulnerabilities and improve performance. This discussion dives deep into what really happened at DEF CON, how modern locks like SECURAM and Liberty’s Dormakaba 702D are evolving, what safe owners can do to protect themselves, and why reliability—not fear—is the real measure of a good lock.

Episode 31 Topics

2:00: DEFCON Conference Demo of Bypassing SECURAM Locks

4:50: What Someone with a SECURAM Lock Could Do

6:22: How Master Safe Technicians Use a Black Box

7:57: Backdoor Mast Codes

10:25: What Happens When You Remove the Backup Access

10:55: Why Else Would You Want a Super Code

12:00: Liberty FBI Event Wasn’t an Electronic Lock

14:26: Have NW Safe Ever Seen a Lock Be Breached?

15:20: Where Should You Store Your Code?

18:10: Reliable Locks

21:41: What Not to Disable Combination Recovery

23:30: Liberty’s New Lock

26:06: What’s the Most Secure Lock