SINGAPORE \u2013 While her peers picked up crafts like crochet as a hobby<\/span><\/a>, medical officer Alyssa Chia picked locks instead.<\/p>\n Inspired by a YouTube video by Lockpicking Lawyer, Chia bought her own locksport starter kit \u2013 a $50 lockpick set and six second-hand padlocks \u2013 about a year ago.<\/p>\n But after months of fiddling on her own, the 25-year-old realised there was a limit to what she could do on her own. She lacked resources, experience and tools.<\/p>\n So she set out to find a community and chanced upon LocksportSG, a lock-picking hobbyist group with around 50 active members and growing.<\/p>\n Founded by Zach Tan and about six others, the group holds educational workshops with up to 16 participants each time.<\/p>\n Once every two to three months, these local enthusiasts gather to learn the basics about locks and how lockpicking works, at a $100 participation fee.<\/p>\n Each participant can bring home a lockpick set and a training lock \u2013 a padlock that has been cut open so the mechanisms inside can be seen.<\/p>\n Participants at LocksportSG\u2019s workshops can bring home a set of lock-picking tools.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Recent workshops have filled quickly owing to an increasing interest in the \u201csport\u201d, said 43-year-old Tan, adding that the group initially began as a Facebook page in 2016.<\/p>\n According to Chia, the LocksportSG community is a tight-knit and diverse one, comprising locksmiths, office workers and even fellow doctors.<\/p>\n \u201cI get to meet a lot of different people outside my own communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Different kinds of locks on the table during a lock-picking class at Sim Lim Tower on Oct 31.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Beyond a hobby, Chia also likened it to a sport as it involves acquiring new skills and plenty of practice.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can time yourself as you try to pick the lock, and see how long you take. When you pick a lock each time, you can also see if you actually understand how you\u2019re doing it or if it was just a fluke,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Lock picking may seem like a casual hobby for some, but there is, in fact, a code of ethics that lockpickers worldwide follow strictly.<\/p>\n At one of LocksportSG\u2019s recent workshops, which The Straits Times attended, a trainer was seen introducing the code to participants: \u201cOnly pick locks that belong to you or (those that you) are given explicit permission by owners to pick.\u201d<\/p>\n Hobbyists are also reminded that they should not pick a lock that is in use, even if it belongs to them, as this may damage or disable the lock.<\/p>\n Participants get a set of lock-picking tools as well as a training lock that has been cut open so the mechanisms inside can be seen.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Retiree Edward Phoon, who participated in the Oct 31 workshop, told ST that he saw it as an opportunity to learn a new skill.<\/p>\n \u201cMy son locked himself in his room before,\u201d said Phoon, 68, adding that he had no choice but to break the door handle then.<\/p>\n So when he came across the workshop details on Facebook, he decided to give it a try.<\/p>\n Edward Phoon (right), like many other participants, was intrigued by the opportunity to learn a new skill.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Main trainer Yee Yucai, who has nine years of experience in lock picking, said he decided to organise workshops and meet-ups to help beginners.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a way of giving back to the community,\u201d he said, adding that he had encountered difficulties when he started out and wanted to ease the learning curve for those who are new.<\/p>\n This includes unlearning bad habits that could affect attempts at picking newer and more complicated locks, he said.<\/p>\n Trainer Yee Yucai said years of experience in lock picking motivated him to contribute back to the community.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Today, LocksportSG continues to observe a slow but steady increase of about 10 active members each year, said Tan.<\/p>\n He added that he has seen a cumulative growth of 20% since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, though this does not include casual observers at beginner workshops.<\/p>\n A decade on, the group\u2019s activities have also expanded to running competitions at events, such as the annual Black Hat conference at Marina Bay Sands.<\/p>\n It is widely known as one of the top security conferences in the world, and LocksportSG has had a presence there for three years, according to its Facebook page.<\/p>\n Attendees include hackers, security experts and government agencies alike.<\/p>\n At these timed competitions, contestants are given 10 minutes to pick over 50 locks with various complexities and points weighting. The contestant who accumulates the most points within the timeframe wins.<\/p>\n Dinar Rahimita, a postgraduate student in cybersecurity in Sydney, said she enjoys seeing the similarities between what she studies and lock picking.<\/p>\n \u201cWe learnt about the physical parts of a lock as part of our course,\u201d she said, during one of the workshops.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s what made this workshop interesting. It gave the concept a tangible thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Postgraduate student in cybersecurity Dinar Rahimita (right) said she saw similarities between her course and the workshop.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Another lesson that she took away from the session was that most padlocks are not as secure as she imagined.<\/p>\n \u201cFor my own security, maybe I do need more layers of security beyond just one padlock,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Tan, however, sees locksport as its own unique field with new possibilities for the group to unlock.<\/p>\n While cybersecurity is \u201cconstantly improving, and improving very quickly\u201d, physical security as represented by the padlock has remained the same, he said.<\/p>\n He believes locksport\u2019s value lies in its potential to improve physical security, as it creates a safe space for it to be tested, such as through conferences or competitions.<\/p>\n And he is already looking at the horizon: \u201cI\u2019m hoping to see more purpose beyond just a group of puzzle-solvers coming together.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have established ourselves in Singapore already, so the next natural step is to connect around the region.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, as interest in locksport grows, assumptions of its other uses are not the only misconceptions its members have to dispel.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople expect me to be able to open all kinds of locks, such as luggage locks, sometimes,\u201d said Chia. \u201cBut my abilities are limited!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 While her peers picked up crafts like crochet as a hobby, medical officer Alyssa Chia picked locks instead. Inspired by a YouTube video…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/98007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/picture><\/div>
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\u2018Only pick locks that belong to you\u2019<\/h2>\n
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