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Hackers Found a Way to Open Any of 3 Million Hotel Keycard Locks in Seconds

The company behind the Saflok-brand door locks is offering a fix, but it may take months or years to reach some hotels.

Now, more than a year and a half later, they're finally bringing to light the results of that work: a technique they discovered that would allow an intruder to open any of millions of hotel rooms worldwide in seconds, with just two taps. When Onity refused to pay for the hardware upgrades necessary to solve the problem and instead put the onus on its customers, the issue remained unfixed in many hotels—and eventually was exploited in at least one hacker's cross-country burglary spree. To that end, Carroll and Wouters point out that hotel guests can recognize the vulnerable locks most often—but not always—by their distinct design: a round RFID reader with a wavy line cutting through it.

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