Sophia Choi reporting

The Internet has turned 150 years of high security into worldwide doubt with consequences at your door.

We're talking about bump keys. Are they a threat to your home security or just another Internet legend? Crime Tracker 3's Sophia Choi found that the truth about bump keys is somewhere in the middle.

"It might take one or two tries, but (door opens) wow!"

That's key bumping. It's a classic locksmith's technique which went viral when clips of a Dutch television news magazine hit the Internet back in 2005. "So you hit the key and it makes all the pins spread, and you can turn it even if it's not the ‘right key' for the lock," said Ann McCrady.

Hundreds of web videos are devoted to showing the viewer how to make his or her own bump key. Said McCrady, "Virtually anyone can do it in five minutes." If you're not handy with tools, don't try your local hardware store. Most hardware store employees know about bump keys and won't make them.

The Web offers would-be crooks another option: sites that sell expensive locksmith tools and bump keys on the cheap, some for just a dollar. One site we found offers an entire set of bump keys with the enticing sales pitch, "Fits the majority of locks in North America!"

"I don't like the material that's on there," Metro's Lieutenant Robert Duval says of what is available online. Duval is with Metro's Property Crime Unit. He knows all about the locksmith equipment sites and can't do anything about them. "I have to agree that it's legal to do it. To put the site on the Internet."

The sites are legal, but hidden in the terms and conditions of most of them, you'll find that the operators are skirting the law. It's a federal crime to ship locksmithing tools to someone who isn't a locksmith, auto dealer, police officer, firefighter, or in another approved profession.

They get around that by making you promise you are in one of the aforementioned professions, but you don't even have to read that rule before the site lets you enter your credit card number. A few weeks later, the keys arrive in the mail.

We took our set to Joe Esposito at Liberty Lock & Safe. "Yeah, they look like standard bump keys," Esposito said. But he also found they're not made very well. They don't work nearly as well as, for instance, the set he uses for his job.

Despite the relative ease of bumping a lock, the way it works, by banging the end of a key in a lock, is also the reason burglars may avoid the technique. "Burglars do not want to take time," Esposito explains. "They want to find the easiest house to get in and get in as quickly as possible."

There is one reason why you should still be worried about bump keys, however. Explains Esposito, "If somebody gets their house broken into by use of a bump key, insurance will probably look at it and say that the individual left the door open because there is no tell-tale sign."

Esposito recommends high-security locks with restricted keys. That means locks to which only you can get a duplicate key. They start around $125. Weight is one sign of quality.

In our tests of door locks, we found that only expensive, high-security locks were able to withstand an assault from a standard cordless drill and our consulting locksmith trying to pick the locks. That comes at a price. The high security locks we tested cost about $150.

Consumer Reports tested high-security locks and found they stand up to bump keys. In fact, they were the only type of lock that can stand up to both a trained locksmith and your everyday cordless drill.       

"A deadbolt in and of itself isn't enough, unless it is also a higher-security," McCrady insists. McCrady repeated Esposito's opinion when Crime Tracker 3 headed to the annual International Security Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center back in April.  

Sometimes people look at that and think, that's just on the Internet, that's not really true. Unfortunately, it is really true that most locks on most homes and businesses are standard pin-tumbler invented by Linus Yale over 100 years ago, which was very good at that time. It's no longer adequate. It really is as simple as it looks on the Internet.            

McCrady also recommends, and sells, high-security locks. "High-security locks have additional features, whether it's a sidebar, something coming in from the side of the key or from other dimensions that make it so that it's not just one direction that the pins have to move."

"Look for products that are tested through independent labs, such as UL or ANSI-BHMA," McCrady continues. "Those are independent testing agencies that have accreditations for higher security products."            

All of our experts say expensive locks are not the only step you need to take. "The more you do to make it harder on the thieves to get in your house, the less likely they'll get into your house," Lieutenant Duval said. 

"Locks are one part of the security of a home or business," adds McCrady.

"As far as kicking in doors and breaking glass, these are much more common ways of breaking into homes. Much more common," warns Esposito.  

Simple and inexpensive security measures like track locks on your sliding glass door, security lighting, and trimming back your foliage, will help make your home much more secure.

Here are some basic and low to no cost home security ideas from Liberty Lock & Safe http://www.libertylock.com/

• Get to know your neighbors and form a neighborhood watch
• Get a "Beware of Dog" sign and a large dog bowl
• Buy alarm signs and put them on your windows
• Trim all landscaping around doors and windows
• Make sure deadbolts fully extend into door jambs
• Put window clams on all window tracks
• Remove short screws on deadbolt and doorknob strike plates and replace them with 3 1/2 inch long screws that go through the door frame and into the 2x4 building stud, or install high-security strike plates
• Install automatic motion-activated exterior lights
• Install quality locks to protect your family and property
• Install a peep hole, and never open the door without checking first
• Remain in your car and back into your garage while making sure no one enters as you close the garage door
• Use your lock between the garage and house
• Re-key your house locks if you can't remember when the last time they were changed or if you can't account for all your keys
• Cancel your newspaper if you are going to be away for any period of time. Do not use email "Auto Reply" which announces that you are on vacation
• Install automatic, random light timers to give your house a lived-in look
• If you live in a two story home, do not leave ladders outside, and make sure all 2nd floor windows are locked
• Get a quality auxiliary lock for your patio sliding glass door
• Use double cylinder deadbolts to prevent someone from breaking glass on or near the door, reaching in and unlocking the door. (Keep an emergency key hidden indoors, close by in case of fire.) This also prevents someone from entering through a window and exiting the door