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Product Description
Introducing PDQ's High Security Cylinder Cores. These cores are designed to provide top protection for your property. Our High Security Cores are available in various formats, including the standard KIK (Key In Knob or Lever) and a Mortise/Rim Cylinder. Each of our PDQ High Security cylinder features two hardened anti-drill pins and a proprietary keyway with sidebar. These features provide maximum resistance against unauthorized access. Connect with a PDQ sales representative today to ensure your facility is secure.
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FAQs
What makes a cylinder core "high security" instead of standard?
PDQ's High Security cylinder cores add two hardened anti-drill pins plus a proprietary keyway with a sidebar, mechanical barriers a standard pin-tumbler core doesn't have. A standard PDQ core relies on the pin stack alone, which is adequate for low-risk interior doors but not built to resist the drilling and picking attempts a determined intruder would try on a higher-value entry point.
How does a proprietary keyway with a sidebar prevent unauthorized key duplication?
The sidebar is a second locking element, separate from the pin stack, that only PDQ's proprietary keyway profile can trip. Because the key blank isn't a widely stocked profile, ordinary hardware-store key walls and self-service kiosks can't cut it, which limits duplication to sources PDQ and its distributors control, rather than anyone with access to a copied key.
What kinds of facilities should specify PDQ's High Security cores instead of standard cores?
Specify them for openings where a compromised key creates outsized risk: server/data rooms, evidence and records storage, pharmacy or narcotics cabinets, and exterior perimeter entries. The anti-drill pins and sidebar keyway are built to raise resistance against forced entry and casual key copying, which is more than a standard interior office door typically needs.
What formats and lock series does PDQ's High Security core work with?
It's available in KIK (Key-in-Knob/Lever) and Mortise/Rim Cylinder formats, and it's compatible with PDQ's GP, SD, and CL Series Grade 2 locks, KV Series deadbolts, and trim including 6T thumb latches, 4P plate pulls, 4GW grip pulls, and 6S rose trim, letting one hardened core format run across a project's cylindrical and mortise hardware.
Is PDQ's High Security core the same thing as the VAULT keying system?
No. High Security is a proprietary sidebar keyway with hardened anti-drill pins for pick and drill resistance in a familiar cylinder format. VAULT is a separate, newer platform (U.S. Patent #12338653) built around a patented tapered gate that mechanically blocks every key but the matching VAULT key, with hybrid compatibility for phased SFIC upgrades, a different mechanism aimed at long-term key-control exclusivity.
Can anyone get a PDQ High Security key duplicated at a hardware store?
No, the sidebar keyway's blank profile isn't part of a standard retail key wall, so duplication is limited to controlled sources rather than any locksmith or kiosk. Facilities that need an explicit, published Key Control Policy restricting cores and keys to authorized distributors should look at PDQ's VAULT system, which states that policy directly on its product page.
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