From the July 15, 2005 edition of Long Island Business News-Banking Quarterly
By Claude Solnik

It was the perfect crime. Two experts armed with torches, sledge hammers, drills and the plans used to build a bank vault went to work, trying to break in. These professional safe crackers sweated it out for two hours, before finally giving up.

No big loss. After all, they knew this vault was empty. And the effort was all in a day's work.

Since 1980, talented two-person teams like theirs have been evaluating and rating bank vaults for Underwriters Laboratories by trying to break into them. If they get lucky, the vault doesn't get the rating its maker sought. Designers go back to the drawing board. If they fail, the vaults get an UL imprimatur with ratings based on the time (up to two hours) they withstood attacks before the team stops.

While consumers may worry much about the sanctity of their local bank's vault, this core of the financial institution has been transformed over the years by "performance testing."

A vault may have that impressive, old-fashioned stainless steel shine. But it's more for show than security these days. "No one makes a steel door anymore," explains Jim Pellegrene, a senior product manager at vault manufacturer Diebold Inc. "Everyone makes a door that's a composite material, mostly using a high-strength concrete design. They're covered with stainless steel to give it the beauty and appearance that everybody needs."

At one time vaults were huge, but now Diebold finds they've shrunk to an average of about 10 feet by 15 feet as electronic transactions replace paper money and fewer valuable documents need safety deposit boxes.

"Vaults are typically smaller," agrees Joseph Ficalora, CEO of New York Community Bank in Westbury. "They're smaller because there's less need for them. Banks have less need for the cash and people have a variety of ways in which they insure - and ensure - that vital documents are available. There are all kinds of electronic mediums available to store information."

Improved materials also allow greater strength in smaller spaces. "The technology has changed," Ficalora continued. "It's more sophisticated." While traditional concrete used for vaults could withstand up to 5,000 pounds of pressure per square inch, today's super-strength can take up to 12,000. Harden them with steel fibers and reinforcing bars and some vaults can withstand up to 30,000. That's six times the traditional measure. "It's not your standard poured out of a truck concrete," notes Diebold's Pellegrene.

While it's harder to blow today's tougher safes, it's also harder to crack them because of the emphasis on "manipulation resistance." Safe crackers who once relied on hearing the sound of tumblers falling into place can't hear that music quite as easily.

"In the old days, you could hear tumblers fall," concedes Pellegrene. "Today the tumblers are made of nylons and different materials. You don't get that advantage anymore."

Even if a bad guy knew the combination, he'd hardly be able to break into a safe in the middle of the night because of the widespread use of the "time lock," says Pellegrene. Time locks only allow you to open a safe at certain hours - even with a combination.

Protecting tangibles is one thing, but how about today's most valuable commodity, information? A good thick vault and an alert security guard can't do much for you when a hacker comes calling.

"The criminals are more sophisticated," says NYCB's Ficalora, adding that nowadays protection against data theft is just as vital guarding physical assets.

Actually, most branch robberies don't involve efforts to penetrate vaults by force as much as they are quick hits by people interested in grabbing cash and running.

"Bonnie and Clyde used to come in with guns roaring and empty all the drawers. Almost nobody does that," says Ficalora. "When people walk in, they walk in with a note."