High Tech Alarm Systems Are Much More Than Home Alarms

/1 Comment/in , /by

So I have the new ADT Pulse system. It’s pretty amazing. I’ve had a “plain old” system for the past 15 years, which has been upgraded 3 times. The standard home alarm system covers monitoring, doors, windows, motion and glass.

This system has all that plus wireless cameras inside, remote controlled thermostats, remote controlled/timed light controls, flood sensors in the mechanical room and laundry, full web access to the cameras, an iPad looking touchpad that controls it, an iPhone app to control/monitor its cameras/stat it from anywhere, and a web dashboard that lets you control every single aspect of each control to inform you of activity or to set up a “reaction” to an incident.

This home alarm system is very simple and easy to program and once you dive into the system it give you a tremendous amount of “awareness” of the goings on in and around your home and it does it automatically.

I haven’t spent a lot of time on the programming just yet, but just by default the basic settings will alert you via text and email whenever anything happens. You also have the ability to turn all these same alerts off.

It has no less than 5 ways to turn it on and off including a wired keypad, iPhone app, Touch pad, computer and remote control on the keychain for deactivating before the garage door goes up. The Touch pads sit in bedrooms/office/kitchen and has a live video feed tuned into kids rooms or the entrance way. There’s also a big green or red icon on the touch pad letting you know if it’s set or not. Mine is mostly red because it’s set while we are home. The touchpad definitely give you more control with, than without. It allows very simple setting of the home alarm so it’s mostly always on and you know it which reduces false alarms.

What I like most is the inside cameras. I have one in the little people’s room who are too little to tell me they don’t want them there. There’s also one in the kitchen, family room, office, entrance way, mechanical room and basement/garage. All of these spaces have a light switch in the room that I can control remotely to turn on so I can see what’s going on at night.

More visibility, more notification, more functionality, easier controls means more security. I LOVE THAT!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and when ADT installed this thing, the sales peeps and installers couldn’t have been more courteous and more professional. They weren’t run of the mill-off of craigslist-contractors, these were employees of the largest alarm company on the planet and it showed they do serious quality control over who their employees are. You don’t see that so much anymore.

It was a very impressive parade of professionalism.

I’m going to do a few posts regarding my experience with ADT Pulse as I dig deeper, so stay tuned.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Home Security Source discussing Home Security on NBC Boston.

Britain Scrapping National Identification Card

/2 Comments/in /by

The Telegraph reports that UK National Identity Cards containing biometric details, including fingerprints, “were championed by the previous Labour government as a way of preventing terrorism and identity theft.” But the new administration immediately scrapped the initiative, introducing the Identity Documents Bill to Parliament in May, which provided for the cancellation of the UK National Identity Card and the Identification Card for EEA nationals, as well as the destruction of the National Identity Register. As a result, the National Identity Register and all personal information supplied with identity card applications will be destroyed by February 2011.

My opinion is this is short sighted of the UK. Bahrain, Belgium, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden and the UAE are some of the countries that have planned or already started to deploy electronic national ID (e-ID) cards. These cards are more secure because they can contain smart card chips. Some countries are implementing e-IDs that also include biometrics, and the ability to digitally sign documents.

Citizens can use their e-IDs for standard uses, like getting a driver’s license or a passport, or benefits from the government. But the cards also allow citizens to access more secure e-Government applications. Some examples including secure electronic filing of taxes, e-Banking, and even e-Voting.

More information on smart cards can be found at http://www.smartcardalliance.org, and at http://www.eurosmart.com/.

According to Information Week, “Surveys of British nationals revealed they wouldn’t mind carrying such an ID, provided they didn’t have to pay for it. Suggested in the wake of Sept. 11, a draft bill to introduce the cards appeared in 2004, before they became law in 2006. At various points, the government promised the ID cards, containing biometric data, would help prevent everything from terrorism and identify fraud to illegal immigration and crime.”

In the US, the government has attempted to standardize the identification process once and for all with the REAL ID Act, which will likely be squashed  under Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who has proposed a repeal of the act. This is due to the amount of resistance RealID is facing from state governments and privacy advocates who don’t understand that the value of effective identity documentation of the degree of security that goes into an ID technology.

We have as many as 200 forms of ID circulating from state to state, plus another 14,000 birth certificates, and 49 versions of the Social Security card. We use for-profit third party information brokers and the  vital statistics agency that works to manage each state’s data. A good scanner and inkjet printer can compromise any of these documents. This is not established identity. This is an antiquated treatment of ID delivery systems. Identity has yet to be established. We need a better plan.

Robert Siciliano, personal security expert contributor to Just Ask Gemalto, discusses Social Security Numbers as National IDs on Fox News. Disclosures

13 Year Old Hides Under Bed During A Boston Burglary

/1 Comment/in , , , /by

The Boston Globe reports: The girl sent a text message to her father, said Police, and then called the police as she hid under her bed while the unidentified man stole three laptops, a large amount of change estimated at about $500, an iPod, and possibly some jewelry.

“The little girl did a fantastic job staying calm and calling us, letting us know what was going on, we had direct communication with her.’’

She must have watched this video of me on Montel saying that exact thing!

“The man had gained entry by kicking the side door of the two-story home off its hinges, and by the time they responded, the suspect had fled,” police said. “The intruder never knew the girl, who was not injured, was under the bed,” police believe.

First, never leave a 13 year old home alone. Maybe a 13 year old is perfectly capable, but still, that doesn’t work for me. If it’s legal in your state to have a 13 year old home alone, then at least discuss home security tips, which in this case maybe someone did. She did well by hiding and making the call with her mobile.

At least install a home security system with home security cameras as another layer of protection with signage outside. Do you think a sign outside that denoted the house was alarmed would have helped? If it did, I bet the guy would not have broken in.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Home Security Source discussing Home Invasions on Montel Williams.

Managing A Digital Life: Teachers Friending Kids

/1 Comment/in /by

Teachers in numerous Massachusetts cities and towns are not allowed to “friend’’ students on Facebook or other social networking sites, and a number of other school districts south of Boston are considering a similar ban.

The Boston Globe reports that many communities are working on policies governing school staff’s use of Facebook, “inspired in part by ‘model’ rules on the subject distributed this fall by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees.”

The Massachusetts Association of School Committees rules are designed for administrators to “annually remind staff members and orient new staff members concerning the importance of maintaining proper decorum in the online, digital world as well as in person.’’

Teachers should be reluctant to add students as friends on Facebook, as Facebook and other social media sites blur the lines in the student and teacher relationship.

Growing up, we knew nothing about our teachers. They were authority figures that didn’t seem to exist in the real world. If we ever saw a teacher in public, at a mall, wearing regular clothes, we fell into a state of shock!

Now, because of the personal information made available on teachers’ Facebook profiles, students know more than they should about their teachers’ personal lives. They know if a teacher’s relationship status is “Complicated,” and that over the weekend he “Partied like it was 1999.”

One argument against students and teachers establishing online friendships is the need for a distinction between personas in and outside the classroom, and a necessary distance between students and teachers, in order to maintain respect and define a teacher as “a role model, mentor, and advice giver – not a ‘friend.’”

Ultimately, the teacher-student relationship is all about guiding the student through a set curriculum involving reading, writing, arithmetic, and so on. This is and has always been a professional relationship, not a social one. Social media facilitates a social relationship. Call me “old school,” but it doesn’t seem right for students and teachers to connect in this way.

Robert Siciliano, personal security expert contributor to Just Ask Gemalto, discusses child predators online on Fox News. Disclosures

Man Arrested For Stealing 15,000 Social Security Numbers

/0 Comments/in /by

Now more than ever, criminal hackers are hacking into databases that contain Social Security numbers and using the numbers to open new financial accounts. Criminals use stolen Social Security numbers to obtain mobile phones, credit cards, and even bank loans. Some victims whose Social Security numbers fell into the hands of identity thieves have even had their mortgages refinanced and their equity stripped.

WTEN.com reports an arrest has been made of an individual alleged to have illegally downloaded personal information, including Social Security numbers of about 15,000 people.

Police arrested a man “for stealing the collection of Social Security numbers from computers belonging to contractors working for the Office of Disability and Temporary Assistance, which is the New York state agency that decides some initial disability claims for Social Security.”

As in most cases of data theft, the Office of Disability and Temporary Assistance will notify and provide credit monitoring services to affected individuals.

According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse’s Chronology of Data Breaches, more than 500 million sensitive records have been breached in the past five years. The Chronology of Data breaches lists specific examples of incidents in which personal data is compromised, lost, or stolen, for example “employees losing laptop computers, hackers downloading credit card numbers and sensitive personal data accidentally exposed online.”

The fact that the entire population of the United States has had their information compromised more than 1.5 times, why wait for another breach to get personal information monitoring?

McAfee Identity Protection includes proactive identity surveillance to monitor subscribers’ credit and personal information including use of Social Security number and access to live fraud resolution agents who can help subscribers work through the process of resolving identity theft issues. For additional tips, please visit http://www.counteridentitytheft.com

Robert Siciliano is a McAfee Consultant and Identity Theft Expert. See him discussing how a person becomes an identity theft victim on CounterIdentityTheft.com (Disclosures)

Home Invaders Face The Death Penalty

/0 Comments/in /by

There is no shortage of news reports clear across the country on home invasions. States like New Hampshire are responding by including home invasion as a qualifier for the death penalty.

Couple pistol-whipped during Tulsa home invasion

Oklahoma: “A husband and wife were pistol-whipped early Saturday during a home invasion robbery. Three males in their teens wearing masks and gloves broke into the home at about 1 a.m. and demanded money. “When the victims told them they did not have any money, they were pistol whipped.” The robbers left with a big-screen television, a cell phone and cash.”

LI couple victims of terrifying home invasion

New York: “A Long Island family was the victim of a terrifying home invasion, which had echoes of the horrific Connecticut home invasion-turned-triple murder. Two intruders, one carrying a gun, forced their way into the family’s home. The couple was bound and blindfolded with tape.”

Man killed in phoenix home invasion

Arizona: “A man has been killed in a Phoenix home invasion. When officers arrived, they found a man, in his 30s, dead inside the home from an apparent gunshot wound. His mother and nephew were also in the home but were not hurt. An unknown man forced his way into the home and shot the victim while inside. He then fled the neighborhood in a vehicle.”

Home invasion bill expands death penalty

New Hampshire: “A bill that would expand the state’s death penalty to include individuals convicted of “heinous” crimes like the 2009 home invasion that left a mother, 42, dead and her daughter severely injured.”The governor has always been supportive of the death penalty in particularly heinous crimes.”The governor feels people have a right to feel safe in their own homes, and expanding the death penalty bill to apply to these cases could act as a deterrent.”

Regardless of the politics of this issue, I’ve never felt a “penalty” or the law is a deterrent against a crime of violence. Violent crimes are committed because the perpetrators are mentally ill or predators by nature. Consequence is of little concern to these types. A deterrent is a home security system, signage and home security cameras.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Home Security Source discussing home invasions on the Gordon Elliot Show.

Skype App Adds Video Calling

/0 Comments/in /by

When traveling for business, I often use Skype to video chat with my family at home. This is a comforting way to connect while sitting in a hotel. I’ll even leave the call on for hours at a time, just to watch what they do and hear the homestead background noise, which often includes the screaming of little ones.

The coolest thing about the Skype application for my iPhone has always been the ability to make calls from other countries to any phone number the USA for a flat rate of $3 per month. Skype-to-Skype calls are free to and from anywhere in the world.

Skype now works on the 3G network, but you may not want to use another carrier’s network in another country, at a cost of a dollar or more per minute, plus connection fees of $20 or more in many cases.

The new Skype app for the iPhone allows users to make video calls to any Skype user. With the new app, you can make free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls over 3G and Wi-Fi, share your Skype video calls with users on iPhones, PCs, and Macs, and you can talk face-to-face or display what you’re seeing with the iPhone’s front and rear-facing cameras.

Share that spectacular sight…show off those new shoes…include others in the big event…speak to clients face-to-face… Now Skype for iPhone lets you get more out of any moment with friends, family, and colleagues.

CNET reports, “Skype for iPhone will work for anyone on Skype’s network, be they desktop or mobile users. While you can only broadcast video on on Apple devices with rear-facing or front-facing cameras–namely the iPhone 4, iPod Touch 4, and iPhone 3GS, you can also receive incoming video broadcasts on the iPad and third-generation iPod Touch. As an extra bonus, desktop Skype users (Windows|Mac) can share a view of their computer screen with Skype users on iPhone.”

If you haven’t used Skype for video calling, give it a try. In my home we use it almost daily. I have an in-law in Australia, and she and my family talk via Skype all the time. The connection is nearly perfect, and best of all, it’s free!

Robert Siciliano, personal security expert contributor to Just Ask Gemalto, discusses sharing too much information on the Internet on Fox News. Disclosures

Reducing The Devastation Of A House Fire

/0 Comments/in /by

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it, does it make a sound? Of course it does. If your smoke detectors go off and you’re not home will your house burn down? Maybe.

Houses burn down when a fire apparatus doesn’t get to the home soon enough to put the fire out.

The most important aspect of any fire is protecting life and limb. The stuff inside and the structure itself doesn’t matter when it comes to human life. But when people lose all their stuff in a fire, it is still very hard, and to some, devastating.

If you lose all your mementos, clothes, photos and all the items that make life comfortable, it can take 1-2 years or more to adjust and get back on your feet.

Fortunately, today’s home security systems can also be equipped with fire alarms that prompt a dispatcher to call the fire department ASAP.

Messenger Post reports “Carol Miller, an emergency dispatch operator at ADT’s Henrietta facility, was notified that the fire alarm in a customer’s home had been activated. She immediately called the local fire department, which responded to the fire and was able to contain the damage to the kitchen.”

The homeowner was quoted saying “I don’t see how they could have done a better job because Carol Miller and the dispatchers saved everything,” “My life as I know it would have been completely done… I can’t wrap my mind around what would have happened. My whole house would’ve burned down.”

Burglars steal your stuff in small increments. They go after high value electronics or jewelry. Fire steals everything including lives. Consider a home security system that incorporates smoke detectors that alert a dispatcher, thereby increasing fire apparatus response time.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Home Security Source discussing Home Security on NBC Boston.

Cape Coral, Florida Citizens Credited For Crime Drop

/0 Comments/in /by

In Cape Coral Florida, WZVN reports “Statistics in Cape Coral Florida show a major decrease in crime for 2010 and police say the biggest drop was in burglaries. They also say the citizens of Cape Coral played a big part in the crime rate reduction. “

That it is music to my ears.

“Newly released numbers from 2010 show that property crimes are down in Cape Coral and burglary is down 14-percent. And according to the police department’s own stats, burglary isn’t the only crime that’s shown a decrease. In 2009, there were just over 7,000 reported crimes in all. In 2010 there were just over 6,100 – an 11-percent decrease.”

The police department credits the citizens of Cape Coral for part of the decline because more neighbors are looking out for each other.

We know homes with security alarms and home security cameras are certainly more secure than homes that aren’t properly equipped. But, what good is all the security in the world if the neighborhood you live in is a combat zone? Quality of life suffers while you are in your fortress. But there are comprehensive solutions to a safer and more secure community. One of the most effective strategies available to any community is a neighborhood watch.

A neighborhood watch (also called a crime watch or neighborhood crime watch) is an organized group of citizens devoted to crime and vandalism prevention within a neighborhood. In the United States, it builds on the concept of a town watch from Colonial America.

A neighborhood watch may be organized as its own group or may simply be a function of a neighborhood association or other community association.

Neighborhood watches are not vigilante organizations. When suspecting criminal activities, members are encouraged to contact authorities and not to intervene.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Home Security Source discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston.

Putting An End to Data Breaches As We Know Them

/0 Comments/in /by

The AP reports “WikiLeaks’ release of secret government communications should serve as a warning to the nation’s biggest companies: You’re next.”

According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse’s Chronology of Data Breaches, more than 500 million sensitive records have been breached in the past five years. The Chronology of Data breaches lists specific examples of incidents in which personal data is compromised, lost, or stolen: “employees losing laptop computers, hackers downloading credit card numbers and sensitive personal data accidentally exposed online.”

WikiLeaks has been quite the news topic and for good reason. Data breaches cost in many ways. One cost is of course in the form or dollars. But when it is military secrets breached, that can cost lives.

It shouldn’t be this way.

The talk show pundits buzz that with the release of thousands of additional secret government documents, it leads to the conclusion that there is no way to protect sensitive data. If the government can’t even prevent a Private in the Army from stealing confidential data, what hope is there?

Nearly all WikiLeaks articles conclude that you have to tradeoff security with productivity, implying that content becomes unusable with higher levels of security in place. In this Associated Press article ‘Companies beware: The next big leak could be yours’, Jordan Robinson of the Associated Press, states:

“But the more companies control information, the more difficult it is for employees to access documents they are authorized to view. That lowers productivity and increases costs in the form of the additional help from technicians.”

This is true for traditional content security measures but ignores significant advances made by security company Zafesoft, whose solution does not require a change in user behavior or complex technical support to maintain. Companies that do a little research will find there is a way to protect their valuable information without compromising productivity and at a reasonable cost.

Robert Siciliano is a Personal Security and Identity Theft Expert. See him discussing another databreach on Good Morning America. (Disclosures)