Today a customer asked a very good question of me: how do you prevent somebody from hiring a locksmith to open your door? Most locksmiths have a list of prerequisites to fulfill before they will open a door for somebody including challenge-response authentication or by address on a state-issued license, but how do you help them make the right choice?
What if some locksmith gets tricked? How do you warn a locksmith not to unlock a door for a crazed ex-wife/ex-husband/evildoer? The best way to warn a locksmith not to enter your home and rekey your lock is to put a sign in a window near the door instructing a locksmith not to open the door for anybody except ___________. An equally good preventative measure is to warn anybody who might try such a thing that you have surveillance cameras and a cadre of lawyers. Another supplemental is to replace your locks with cylinders that are very difficult to drill or pick. If you have an expensive lock cylinder with a restricted keyway it will make locksmiths ask questions about who sold you that cylinder, why you don’t ask them to come out and unlock the door or rekey it, etc. If you have a cylinder with a restricted keyway the likelihood is that somebody has the bitting for that key filed away somewhere.
Be preemptive. If you suspect somebody is going to try to break in make sure they know that a loud alarm will go off when the door gets opened and they will be videoed opening the door and the video is automatically being uploaded to an offsite location that is password-protected. Make sure you have legal help against people you are wary of such as restraining orders or at the very least you have filed a complaint with the police against the person or persons to establish a history for the authorities to look at.
