In July, developer Richie Hauwell released the first version of the open utility Catlock for the Windows operating system. The tool is designed to protect against random keystrokes that can occur, for example, if a cat jumps onto the keyboard.
The program code is written in Python and is available on Github under the GNU General Public License V3.0. Catlock is based on the open library keyboard, developed in Python, which is fully supported only on Windows operating systems.
Ritchie Hauwell personally tested the utility.
The lock can be activated by the Ctrl+L key combination, while the screen and mouse remain functional. The keyboard can be unlocked by clicking on a special overlay. In Catlock, system hotkeys such as CTRL+ALT+DEL have priority and will not be blocked, ensuring that the user can always access the system in case of unforeseen circumstances.
In October 2023, an incident occurred in the United States when a technical specialist set up the server cluster of a medical center, and his cat accidentally jumped onto the keyboard, deleting all system settings, including the current cluster configuration. Network engineers reported that the incident caused a four-hour failure in the IT systems of the State Medical Center serving veterans in Kansas City, Missouri. The IT director of the US government department overseeing the project was held responsible for the incident.