Entries by Robert Siciliano

Are Your Kids’ Friends Trouble?

From childhood on, throughout life we develop relationships starting with your neighbors, classmates and eventually through work and of course through friends of friends. In high school I met this kid through my girlfriend’s girlfriend. He was a talented kid with lots of potential. I’m not using his real name, so let’s call him John.…

Burglary from another Perspective

I don’t see any signage saying “Home Security System”, and your front door is mostly glass and you sometimes leave the doors unlocked for bike rides. I see you go to bed around 10 to 10:30. Most of your lights are off by nine. You rarely pull the shades down. You often leave a light…

Chinese Prisoners Forced To Scam Gaming Sites

When you think “prison camp,” you probably don’t picture a place resembling summer camp, with arts and crafts, hiking, swimming, and playing games. But in the Jixi prisoner labor camp in the coalmines of northeast China, they break rocks all day and play games at night. Online games often reward players who accumulate a certain…

68 Year Old Grandmother Shoots Home Invaders

In Nashville where smoked ribs, country music and 68 year old grandmothers sleep with shotguns, a take no prisoners Nana picked off two home invaders breaking in as she slept. She was quoted saying “Never in my whole life have I ever harmed anything or anybody, but I’ve never been put in that position.” Well…

Teens Trash Ex-Besties House When Away

My assistant sends me this: “Here’s a story that you can use for a Home Security blog if you want: Jodie (my daughter) gets a phone call Friday night from her best friend Audrey about their old best friend Nancy. Nancy was Jodie and Audreys best friend up until 6-8 months ago when Nancy started…

The FFIEC Wants You to Know…

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council recently released a supplement to the guide it issued in 2005, on authentication in an Internet banking environment. One of the FFIEC’s key recommendations for eliminating fraud is consumer awareness and education. At some level, you may be aware that financial institutions have a layered security approach in place. Those layers…

Predators: Nurture or Nature?

Have you ever watched a flock of seagulls on the beach? I live in close proximity to the ocean, and I see them all day: fishing, eating, and ultimately stealing from each other. Usually a more aggressive seagull chases and screams at a gull that’s just cracked open a clam. Sometimes the aggressor will snatch…

Hackers Hacked Away in Las Vegas

For the uninitiated, per Wikipedia “DEF CON” (also written as DEFCON or Defcon) is one of the world’s largest annual hacker conventions, held every year in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first DEF CON took place in June 1993. Many of the attendees at DEFCON include computer security professionals, journalists, lawyers, federal government employees, crackers, cyber-criminals,…

Tracking Lost or Stolen Devices

Lost your iPad? Someone steal your iPhone? Can’t find your laptop? Misplaced your Android phone? You can call your phone and hope it rings, but maybe it’s on vibrate, or miles away. If your car gets broken into and your laptop goes missing, what do you do? There are plenty of software programs that can…

Barefoot Bandit Gets a Movie Deal

Colton Harris Moore was busted for committing over 100 burglaries in the Pacific Northwest. He stole cars, speedboats and airplanes (at least 3). He is known as the “Barefoot Burglar” because he kicked off his shoes running from the police through the woods. He was a “door knob jiggler”. Most of the homes didn’t have…