Ah, Security

(So, I actually debated with myself as to whether or not I should blog this... in the end, I figured I should. Hopefully, no one will loose their job and any remedy won't cost Berkeley's EECS department too much in terms of resources.)

I was going to a meeting today in Soda Hall (the Computer Science building on the Berkeley campus) when I stepped on something that jingled while crossing the street in front of Cory Hall (the Engineering building on campus). At first, I thought the sound came from some coins in the road and I was in too much of a hurry to see if they were quarters (for laundry!). However, I noted the jingle was a little more musical than with coins.

When I looked down, I saw a set of three Berkeley keys.

[More:]

Most, if not all of keys that open doors on the Berkeley campus look exactly the same, so I immediately knew that these would open some door on campus. That seemed like a bad thing to leave in the street, so I picked them up and made a mental note to drop them off with the building manager for Cory Hall after the meeting.

So I did. It turns out, these were a set of master keys to Cory Hall and I could have conceivably opened any door in the building! I had the keys for about an hour and didn't do anything with them... but one could imagine someone taking a picture, imprint or rubbing of these keys without knowing what they opened and then returning them and judging the reaction of the staff.

Yikes. I wonder if they'll now have to change all the locks? As a matter of security policy, they probably should as they (and I) have no way of proving that I didn't make copies (I suppose, I could have not returned them and then been reasonably assured that they would have to change the locks). As a practical matter, they could trust me and use this as a great opportunity to remind master-key holders exactly how important these little pieces of metal are.