This category is sold with more confidence than it deserves. The features are genuinely useful, and the promise attached to them usually is not.

Locking zip pulls

They defeat the one-second unzip in a crowd, which is how most bags are actually opened.

They do not resist a knife or a determined attempt with two hands and time.

Cabled strap cores

A steel or aramid cable through the webbing defeats a slash, which is a real technique.

It does nothing for a bag left on a chair, which is how most bags are actually lost.

Slash-resistant panels

A mesh in the back panel resists a cut through the body of the bag.

It adds weight and stiffness, so it is worth it on travel bags and rarely elsewhere.

RFID pockets

They block contactless reads and they cost almost nothing to include.

Real-world skimming is far rarer than the category implies, and modern cards rotate codes.

What none of them do

Buy certainty. Every feature here buys time and effort, and that is the honest claim.

Any supplier using the phrase theft-proof is telling you something about themselves.