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Am attempting to open an old device cover (an adapter) and it has these screws (please see attached image, sorry for the bad quality, I couldn't get better focus than this.)

Would really appreciate if someone could guide me identify it and/or point to where to obtain a driver for it. (Or even more awesome if any tips of opening it using any hack without a specialty driver, if possible!)

picture of bolt

Update Addendum

Well I am happy to report that — thanks to the help and solution below — I have acquired & successfully opened the Tamper-proof/Security Torx screw using the bit! (see more bad images below, :D Though I notice that a kind contributor has edited my original picture and fixed some text too, thanks!) :)

enter image description here enter image description here

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    While it's not perfect, the picture is perfectly good, really - shows what we need to see, even if the focus is slightly off.
    – Ecnerwal
    Aug 3, 2019 at 16:05
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    Am glad it was good enough for the solution. Thanks! :)
    – spcsLrg
    Aug 3, 2019 at 16:20
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    One trick for taking a closeup shot, is to not. Instead, back off a half-metre or so, take the photo, and then use a crop tool to cut out the extra. But this one is perfectly adequate.
    – Criggie
    Aug 4, 2019 at 6:41
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    I resized the blurry picture to 30% of the original size with GIMP. Still has not lost any information. Now you can resize your pictures next time.
    – Jonas Stein
    Aug 24, 2019 at 10:53

2 Answers 2

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This is a tamper proof torx screw. There are torx bits with a hole in the center that will remove them, if you are bold you can try smacking the center pin with a punch at an angle (small ones usually snap off) and then a standard torx bit can be used to remove it. Check online and I bet you can find a tamper proof bit kit for under 15$.

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    Also Known As "Security Torx"
    – Ecnerwal
    Aug 3, 2019 at 16:03
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    Hm, if you really mash it though you might damage the screw and make it harder to remove.
    – whiskeychief
    Aug 3, 2019 at 16:45
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    I have seen people’s efforts to smack the center pin to cause the screw to bend or the casing break.... better to get the proper bits...
    – Solar Mike
    Aug 3, 2019 at 22:43
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    @spcsLrg Given that you can pick up a new security torx driver for < $1, shipped, (eBay), it's commonly easier to just get the appropriate bit. If you don't know the size, sets are a bit more expensive, but not much. While such sources may not give you the best quality, it should, at least, get a single job done.
    – Makyen
    Aug 4, 2019 at 1:29
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    I'd also recommend buying a good kit with a diverse set of bits. Years ago I thought I'd save myself a bit of money by only ever buying specific bits (or the smallest possible kit that had what I needed, typically 3-6 of a single type); but after doing that a few times you end up having spent the cost of a decent kit but still end up having to buy new bits because you've got a much less diverse collection than the kit you didn't buy in the first place.
    – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight
    Aug 4, 2019 at 15:57
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Your picture shows a Security Torx screw head. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/Screw_Head_-_Torx_Tamperproof.svg/40px-Screw_Head_-_Torx_Tamperproof.svg.png

You can find a good overview on most common screw drives for identification on a specific wikipedia page.

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  • I never knew there was a wikipedia page with this info.Thanks!
    – Ed on PCR
    Aug 6, 2019 at 20:09

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