Hands-Free locksets are here

Months ago I was pondering taking apart a car’s authentication system and using a car ignition as my front door lock due to the added security of transponders and the car’s ECU, which is two-factor authentication, somewhat rare on consumer door hardware. Today I noticed that manufacturers of door hardware have caught up with the times and I would be reinventing the wheel. Mul-T-Lock has had two factor authentication for some years now, but “unikey” has just come out with their “Kevo” lockset which interacts with Bluetooth 4.0 devices.
Apparently all you have to do is touch the lock while your phone is in close proximity. Knowing the distance that Bluetooth can go, I wonder if somebody could amplify the signal and unlock the Kevo by touching it while you are inside, if the phone is within 30 feet or so of the lock (distance required by bluetooth to work). According to this article the lock can determine if you are inside or outside, so this may already have been addressed by the manufacturer.

Most interesting to me is that the Kevo has the ability to share e-keys to different people’s phones, including one use only e-keys.  Unfortunately, the only devices able to interact with the Kevo at the moment are iOS devices, though android apps are in development.  Probably iPhone owners are the only ones who would buy a $200 deadbolt that works with their phone anyway.

A competitor that also offers these abilities is “Lockitron”.  Interestingly, they have engineered their lock to be connected to your wireless network allowing the owner to lock or unlock the door remotely from anywhere in the world they have internet access.  I imagine it is only a matter of time before somebody figures out how to defeat the security of this detail, if this lock becomes more popular.