Marco Crisciotti Posting a photo of your keys (and more) online may seem harmless, but it exposes you to serious security risks. Find out why and how to protect your privacy.
@Canva
A photo of one’s keys to show a move, a new home, or special occasions may be quite harmless. It is kept for sharing on social media, for a few ‘likes’ and some excitement from friends. The habit comes with a serious risk: it gives direct access to your home to potential criminals. It may sound like an exaggeration, but modern technology allows copying a key using just an image. That’s why it’s best to think twice before posting such a photo.
The role of technology: how do you reproduce a key from a photo?
Few people realize that not all keys are the same. The teeth, grooves, and profile of a key are unique features that, if clearly visible in a photograph, can be reproduced with alarming precision.
According to Laura Kankaala, a cybersecurity expert at F-Secure, sometimes an image may be enough to give all the details needed for 3D printing a perfect copy. That means a thief wouldn’t even need to pick a lock – he could just produce an identical key and open your door without leaving a trace.
When personal information about the owner of a key–location or a city, perhaps–accompanies an image, then criminals cross-referenced information and determined where to hit,”. Thus, one also finds greater danger from criminals by virtue of an overshare in the realms of
Social media sites
We live in an era of compulsive sharing-from our joys and struggles to the latest purchases, including even those bits of information that should retain their privacy. These everyday actions often become a double-edged sword because they can be done so frivolously without much thought. In a conversation with the Daily Mail, Laura Kankaala cited a number of pictures that should never hit the internet:
- Boarding passes: Many of them actually contain personal information and can be used even for canceling reservations or accessing private information.
- Pictures of children wearing school uniforms might leak information such as school addresses and home addresses. This belongs to a broader category called “sharenting”-oversharing photos of your children in social media, which is something very dangerous to do.
- Work-related posts, such as photos taken in offices, may unknowingly reveal emails, company documents, or highly sensitive business details.
- Photos of others without their permission: Posting pictures of friends or acquaintances without their permission can get them in embarrassing situations and even legal troubles.
Online safety involves these small yet crucial precautions. Not oversharing will keep your personal privacy intact as well as the privacy of others.
How to post safely
If you cannot stop sharing in social media sites altogether, here’s how you can protect yourself while posting :
- Avoid posting in real-time: Posting pictures while on vacation lets thieves know your house is empty.
- Adjust privacy settings: Keeping posts private to a chosen audience minimizes the chances of information getting into the wrong hands.
- Blur sensitive details: Obscuring boarding passes, work badges, house numbers, and other identifying information is a prudent thing to do.
- Think before posting: Always ask yourself whether an image could be misused.
What if you have posted a picture of your keys online?
Perhaps you thought, “Oh no, I have just done this”? You need to remove that post immediately. If it has been hanging out online for days, weeks, or months, you might be better off going ahead and replacing your locks-especially if you have announced your city name or other particulars about your home.
It’s not paranoia, just common sense. It’s always much easier to avoid a problem than to deal with unpleasant consequences afterwards.
Privacy comes first
The internet is huge, and everything we upload can stay accessible much longer than we could ever imagine. Keeping private isn’t only about not allowing someone to steal something-it’s just about ordinary protection. A key in one’s pocket belongs exclusively to its owner, while a key online might end up in the wrong hands.
Think carefully before you post.
