Kid’s toy challenges garage door security?

Last thing at bedtime, you check the doors of your Crystal Lake home. Once you’re certain all the doors are locked – from front door to back including the garage door, and confident that you and the family are safe – you turn off the lights and head to bed. But are those doors as secure as you assume?

Imagine, just for something outlandish, that a child’s toy could open your garage door? Of course, that’s ridiculous. No child’s toy can override the security built into your garage door opener. It’s simply absurd.

That kid’s toy CAN open garage doors 

As demonstrated in an online podcast, a kid’s toy can, in fact, be modified to open many garage doors – to activate the garage door openers.

The toy used in the demonstration is the IM-ME device from Mattel. With a little knowledge of data codes, some relatively tech savvy individuals can open many of the electric garage door openers around the world, including those in your Crystal Lake neighborhood.

Some hackers discovered that the IM-ME will do the work to determine the codes for garage door openers. And it doesn’t take long.

Many garage door openers use 8-bit codes. With an 8-bit code, there are 256 variations of possible code combinations. It takes about 32 milliseconds to send one variant of the code. That means that it would take about 8 seconds for the toy to send all 256 variations. If your garage door has an 8-bit code, and no other lines of defense, that toy is going to open your garage door.

Fortunately, today, many garage door openers have 12-digit codes. That’ll slow ‘em down a little. 

With a 12-digit code, there are 4,096 variations of codes. That should mean that it will take 128 seconds. In other words, someone will have to work for just over two minutes to get in through your garage. But, it turns out, neither is the case.

It turns out that the codes are read in an overlapping fashion. This means that, if you have a string of all variations of the code, the garage door opener starts at the beginning. When that code fails, it drops the first digit and tries again. Then the next digit and so on. This condenses the codes dramatically. 

Instead of 8 seconds, it takes about 1 second for the toy to crack the code to your garage door, if you have an 8-digit code. If you have a 12-digit code, it might slow them down to 16 seconds. 

This is bad news for those counting on garage door openers to provide security from the garage. The good news is that the manufacturers of garage door openers have caught on to these ‘little loopholes’ in the security they provide. 

New garage doors are built to block the hackers, whether they use a toy or something more sophisticated. 

‘Resolve’ to maintain your garage door and garage door opener in 2022

2022 is here; have you made your New Year’s Resolutions? If you’re searching your brain for ideas of what Resolutions to make, have you considered your garage door and garage door opener?

SAY WHAT?!!!

Yes, resolve to maintain your garage door and garage door opener in 2022. If you’re like most people, it’s not something you did a real good job of in 2021. And it’s something you might want to do a better job of this year.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “I have enough to do already,” that’s understandable. But, fortunately, you don’t have to overburden yourself with maintaining your garage door and garage door opener. That’s especially true if you call in a professional to do the job for you.

Calling in a professional is a great idea when it comes to maintaining your garage door and garage door opener. They know all about garage doors and garage door openers. Most of us don’t know so much about garage doors and openers. And that’s okay. That’s not a level of knowledge that is probably worth our time attaining. But quality garage door technicians have spent the time learning all about the equipment they repair, maintain and replace.

The good news is that garage door technicians don’t have to replace garage doors and garage door openers as often when they are properly maintained.

Maintenance of a garage door and garage door opener is really an annual event that takes about an hour. The technician will check the alignment and condition of the garage door and opener. Keep in mind that, if there is one part that is having trouble it may cause strain on other parts of your garage door system.

The garage door technician will also lubricate where lubrication is required. Since they don’t use the same lubricant in all areas of your garage door system, it’s important to know which lubricants to use and where.

In the long run, garage door and garage door maintenance are money savers. It doesn’t cost much to do but can save a lot of money in the long run. In the meantime, maintenance of your garage door system will ensure that it runs smoother and quieter throughout the year.

Maintaining your garage door and garage door opener offers another benefit that makes it well worth a New Year’s Resolution; it will give you peace of mind this year that you don’t have to worry about your garage door or garage door opener in 2022.