Tamper Devices Need Improvement
According to a study conducted at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, cable box or electric meter tamper indicating devices could be improved. Los Alamos researchers have been able to defeat every seal they have studied, meaning they can access whatever the seal is protecting without being detected.
The special laboratory group intentionally tests tamper-indicating devices to gain access to the protected product without any evidence of gained entry. The group successfully completed 132 entries on 94 different seals by opening the seal and resealing it or replacing it with a counterfeit so the entry or tampering was undetectable.
“We learned how to spoof all the seals using rapid, low-tech methods,” said Roger Johnston, Los Alamos researcher. “Most of the attacks could be performed successfully by almost anyone who has access to a hardware store and a standard machine shop.”
Tamper-indicating seals are not intended to stop unauthorized access, but leave obvious evidence of entry or tampering. The research team defeated the seals in times ranging from three seconds to two hours, with an average of four minutes.
The researchers pointed out that seals are only one aspect of an overall security program. The fact that any given seal can be defeated does not automatically mean the overall security program has failed.
