IIRC, he has since picked the referenced lock (Abloy Protec), but hasn't yet picked the Abloy Protec2. I imagine most of the locks referenced in the original post are in the same category.
From the few I've watched, most of the time he just seems to end-run around the supposed security of whatever it is. The double-crescent-wrench trick is a classic, "here take this super expensive fancy electronic lock, watch what happens when we just snap it in half with two tools I can fit in my pocket."
How is that in any way a detriment to his content? He's highlighting the utter failure of the product to provide the security it purports to. See: where he opens the small safe with a plain kitchen butter knife
Maybe if he was blatantly 'cheating', by using a battery powered sawzall or an oxy-arc torch to just blast off the lock. But he uses more mundane items, like the knife, or two crescent wrenches.
I meant that those are my favourite episodes, not that I see them as poor form. If you can trivially bypass an expensive "high security" lock without even bothering to pick it, that's something potential buyers should know! Too many companies focus on the fancy bling parts and ignore the fundamentals of security.
It's like that 'secrets of physical pen-testers' talk where half the time they can bypass security with a combination of simple low-tech tools (eg. under-door tools) and creative thinking (eg. blowing cigarette smoke through a door to trigger the sensor). The most efficient way to get through security is to not have to break it at all.
This goes for software as well as physical security.
I think the Ramset videos might count as 'cheating' - there probably aren't many locks designed to take the force of a .22 blank powder charge to the body and survive. And the ones about shooting locks with a 50 cal rifle definitely count ;) Still really interesting to see the limits of lock endurance nevertheless - really underscores the idea that no lock is undefeatable, it's just about how far somebody is willing to go to defeat it.
He tends to do several videos in a row on a theme - for instance, slicing through 'cut-proof' bags, or snapping shackles with spanners, etc. But you just need to go back maybe ten videos and you'll find that the majority of his content by far is about lock picking.
As I recall the double crescent wrench thing was mostly for demo purposes, and to show how he thought he had a more effective technique than another youtube channel.
While he sometimes he does destructive attacks just to highlight weak security (zinc, plastic) or poorly fitted parts, the vast majority of his videos are picks, often using specialised tools, like the disc detainer he helped design.
