An electric lock is a locking device that uses some form of electronic authentication to lock something (commonly a door). Electronic locks are typically considered to be more secure than conventional mechanical locks. As they boast additional useful features such as auditing successful and failed access attempts. Among other things, electronic locking systems are one of the most difficult locking mechanism to bypass due to their complex nature. They have many different methods, each of them as complex and secure as the last (if not more). Since most electronic locks can't be picked the old fashioned way it does prevent a lot of burglaries and other crimes from ever being committed.

Electronic locks also have differing designs to make them more secure or easier to install and use, which a standard lock tends to have difficulty with due to limited design.

Despite the good gain one might get from implementing electronic locks into their home, electronic locks can be rather expensive to install in a personal residence. They are normally only used for businesses and are commonly seen in motels.

Some people use a two-factor authentication system. This system aids in the security by making it required to use both forms of authentication rather than just one, such as a password. Normal two-factor authentication systems require a physical object (such as a bank card) and a password (or PIN). This type of authentication is normally referred to as “strong authentication” while a single-factor authentication (such as a simple password) would be considered “weak authentication”. Due to the growing number of systems such as these in use with both government and private parties; crime appears to be lowering at a steady rate due to the security that it provides opposed to a simple lock mechanism. By the same coin, it's taken the focus away from those organizations and more on the residential and lower-security areas.

Because of the wide array of security possibilities that are made available thanks to electronic locking systems, many places have been made far more secure and safe than standard ordinary key-locks. Since there are so many possible combinations it proves difficult to list them all aside from the standard ones. However I will provide you with the following list of authentication methods and electronic locking systems that may be available to you. They include numerical codes, passwords, pass-phrases, security tokens, biometrics, mobile phones, smart cards, and universal serial bus (USB).