Keep those keys in your pocket

I think i love this story about researchers developing a system that can generate copies of keys based on photos because it illustrates how, even after centuries, a classic security technique can fall victim to new hacks. [via Make Magazine] The system, called SNEAKEY does not require a good close-up photo of the key, though they point out that you can find many such photos online at Flickr and other sites. Their front-page example photo is a somewhat blurry image of a set of keys laying on top of a book taken from 195 feet away, but they were still able to reproduce the keys.
There are all sorts of possible measures one could take in response to this problem – from the obvious of not posting pictures of your keys online, to keeping them in your pocket or obscured in your hand while you are using them, to building little retractable key sheaths that keeps the key’s pattern covered until it is being pushed into a lock. But a better lesson to take out of this is that dual factor security is necessary for strong assurances because these types of new intrusion methods are going to continue to be developed, whether in the physical or digital world.