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Happy Holidays and Thank You From Robert Siciliano and Home Security Source

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25 years ago I was in a situation where I needed some help. A man appeared out of nowhere and seemed to have sensed my desperation and offered assistance. I accepted. Up until that day “It was all about me”.  When I asked why he stopped to offer assistance and go out of his way as he did, he simply said, “Sometimes people just need help” That simple act and those 5 words changed my life.

In these posts we spend a lot of time talking about “bad-guys”. I point out their motivations, methods and techniques and what – you -, the kind, and nice, civilized person needs to be aware of to protect yourself and family.

Scribbling about these home security issues every day requires reading about negative awful things on a daily basis.  But I’m OK with it.

Ya know why?

Because I care about you and I want to help. Caring lights a fire under me and motivates me to keep you informed. Like a musician has to play, I have to remind you to keep your head up.

Although the chances of something bad ever happening is slim, we know there is a chance. I know you can only read and re-read these tips so many times and some of you occasionally drop out, then drop back in to refresh your memory on how to protect yourself.

We are all in this together. We are a community and need each other to move forward, and to help each other. This life, if we are lucky enough to live till our eighties, (like my grandfather who past this year) goes by fast.

Throughout life we make choices and decisions that determine our destiny. I believe we are in control of about 90% of that destiny and about 10% is beyond our control. It’s generally not “what happens” to you, but “how you choose to respond” or deal with each circumstance that determines the outcome.

From my little corner of the universe, my goal is to keep you informed of your options so you can prevent evil from messing up your life.

We thank you so much for listening. We hope so much that it’s making a difference. I am personally grateful that you care enough to take responsibility for this part of life and for living consciously about your personal security.

Happy Holidays to you and yours. Make it a safe and secure one.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Home Security Source.

Miami Area Police Provide Burglary Prevention Tips

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The FBI reports a burglary occurs in the United States every 15.4 seconds. That’s almost 4 property crimes a minute. Wow! A burglary can be in a home, park, car, parking lot, gym or place of work.

They state:

  • Most burglaries occur during the day when everyone’s at work or school.
  • Unlocked, unoccupied homes that are off the beaten path have the best escape routes and are big targets.
  • Auto break-ins are “crimes of opportunity”. If the bad-guy sees your stuff in the front or back seat they smash and grab.

Home security tips they offer:

  • Use solid steel or solid wood doors.
  • Trim shrubs to eliminate hiding spots.
  • Report suspicious activity in your neighborhood.
  • Start a neighborhood watch and get to know your neighbors.
  • Inform a few trusted neighbors of any travel plans to assist in the collection of newspapers and mail.
  • Install a home security system monitored by law enforcement and consider security cameras too.

Auto security tips they offer:

  • Lock you doors and take your keys. Sounds, like a no brainer, but you’d be surprised at how many don’t follow this simple rule.
  • Don’t leave valuables exposed. Put them in the trunk or take them with you.
  • Don’t leave papers that may have identity data visible.
  • Activate alarms, use antitheft wheel locks.
  • Carry your registration in your wallet and make photo copies that you keep at home.
  • Never leave your engine running and walk away from the car, even if it’s only for a minute.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Home Security on NBC Boston.

How to Prevent Door to Door Scams

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A close friend called to tell me a man knocked on her door to sell her on repaving her driveway. In the process, he requested she invite him in to discuss it further and go over different options. The man was persistent and if my friend was anyone else, he may have gotten in. However, she is savvier than that and reminded him that her German Shepherd would not appreciate anyone coming in the house.

Call them con men, grifters, scammers, or thieves. Or simply call them liars. Lying is what they do best. Face to face, via email or over the phone they lie through their teeth. They do it casually and with such conviction that we have no reason not to believe them.

These people will stand in your doorway and, in some cases, keep you talking until you buy something or persist till they get into your home. Remember, whatever you tell them can be used against you.

For example, if they act as a home alarm salesman and find out you don’t have an alarm, they may break into your house. If you tell them who your home alarm is with, they may call you at a later date posing as that alarm company and request “updated credit card numbers”.

This “request” is best resolved by not answering any questions at all, or telling the person at the front door (while you speak to them through the locked door) you are not interested. No matter what, never give them Social Security or credit card numbers, or tell them whether or not you have a home alarm.

The key is to stop being so nice and SAY NO as quickly as possible and always do it through a locked door.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing scammers and thieves on The Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch.

11 Tips to Secure Online Shopping

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Here are 11 tips to have a safe online shopping experience during the holiday season:

  1. Avoid spoofed websites. Common sense says any time you receive an offer via an e-mail automatically be suspicious. The same goes with offers via tweets and messages received in any social media site.
  2. Don’t click the links in e-mails. Especially if it’s a too good to be true offer.
  3. Beware of cybersquatting and typosquatting which may look like the domain of the legitimate eTailer.
  4. Look for https:// in the address bar signifying it’s a secure page. Generally, scammers won’t take the time to set up secure sites. Note the closed padlock in your browser to back up the HttpS.
  5. Beware of e-mails coming for eBay scammers. If you are seeking deals on eBay, go right to the site and don’t bother responding to e-mails. Search deals on an e-mail directly on eBay.
  6. Look at the eBayers history. eBay is set up on the honor system. If the eBayer is an established seller with great feedback, they should be legit.
  7. Pay close attention to your statements. Check them every two weeks online and refute unauthorized charges within 2 billing cycles.
  8. Don’t use a debit-card online. If your debit card is compromised, that’s money out of your bank account. Credit cards have more protection and less liability.
  9. Avoid paying by check online/mail-order. Once the money is taken from your account and you don’t receive the goods, you are going to have a difficult, if not impossible, task of getting it back.
  10. Do business with those you know, like and trust. It’s best to buy high ticket items from eTailers that also have brick and mortar locations.
  11. Secure your PC. Update your critical security patches and anti-virus and only shop from a secured internet connection.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing
credit and debit card fraud on CNBC.

New Jersey Home Robbery: One Unlocked Window Brings a Life of Pain

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Robbery as defined in Wikipedia is the crime of seizing property through violence or intimidation. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear. Robbery differs from simple theft, a break-in or burglary on its use of violence and intimidation.

Many of us are told that when you are attacked to let it happen so it doesn’t get any worse. In some cases that may be your only option. Studies have also shown that fighting back might be a better option. Showing resistance and making it difficult for your attacker to do their job often helps you get to safety.

In New Jersey near Atlantic City “a woman, identified only as “L. L.” in documents, was asleep in her bed and a 28 year old man crawled in an open window at about 1:30 a.m. L.L. heard something fall, got up to investigate the noise and met the home invader  inside her home.

The predator is accused of beating and raping her, then filling a trash bag with personal items in order to derail an investigation before fleeing her home. Armed with a knife, police said, he threatened to kill L.L. if she talked with authorities.”

The best course of action is always to put systems in place to avoid having to confront a predator in the first place.

There are some things that can be done to reduce the chances that your home is targeted for robbery:
1. Install outdoor lighting that may keep the bad guy away

2. Lock all doors and windows always
3. Install security cameras
4. Install a home alarm system. Have a panic button for your home alarm that calls for help and sends a screaming alarm
5. Always run to safety when attacked. The worst thing you can do is nothing.

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

Prolific Burglar Shares Tips from Prison

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Who better to tell you how to protect your home than a career criminal that began breaking into homes at the tender age of 14. Up until he was finally jailed,  he fed a heroin addiction for almost 30 years by breaking into over 200 homes. That’s an average of breaking into one home every 2 months for 30 years!

How he chose homes:

He randomly chose single level homes that had open shades where he could see inside if anyone was home. He cased the homes over a few days.

Often he would choose a home near the parking lot of a business, church or other establishment where he could park his car unnoticed.

A big attraction was if he saw any degree of mail or newspapers accumulating. One to 2 days worth of mail would prompt him to case the home further. If the home didn’t have that “lived in look” he would knock on the front door, ring the bell, tap on windows and if nobody answered he would jiggle the doorknob.

He also looked at a home’s lighting. If an exterior light was on at 2pm during daylight and still on at 4am, then it was likely the person was away from the home and left the light on to give the false impression they were home at night, not thinking a burglar would notice the light during the day.

What homes he avoided:

Any home with a “Beware of Dog” sign or any pictures of dogs wasn’t worth the risk. If the home had the appearance of a home security system, home security cameras, signage, stickers or a visible alarm keypad, he avoided the home saying again, it’s not worth the risk.

I think it’s pretty clear what you should do and what you shouldn’t do to attract the attention and deter a burglar.

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

Holiday Shopping: Beware of Unethical Online Merchants

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We have all encountered a sales clerk who was rude, a customer service representative who was incompetent and an online purchase that went south. Even I’ve been scammed out of an entire order and spent dozens of hours trying to get a return on another.

But when it comes to outrageous and shocking, including threats of violence and outright fraud, this story takes the cake.  An online merchant based in Brooklyn New York retailing designer sunglasses, some counterfeit and some real, thrives on bad customer service, over charging, making threats, stalking and abusing clients into giving up the fight over what’s right.

The merchant prides himself on getting negative feedback on consumer advocacy and review sites such as Get Satisfaction, ComplaintsBoard.com, ConsumerAffairs.com, RipoffReport.com, Yelp and Epinions.

He thrives on – for example “DO NOT ORDER ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY. This has been the most horrific experience EVER. I have extensive knowledge of website management and customer service, and they pretty much break every rule imagined. They are a total scam”

The strategy of negativity gets this merchants website ranked high on search when listed with all the different opinion sites. Google and other search engines often rank a website to show on the first page of search based on how many links point to it from other prominent sites. So even though all the negative links are pointing to the unethical site from opinion sites, it still ranks on the first page of search helping its sales.

Beware of making purchases on any website based on how they rank in search. Even a first page organic hit can lead to a scammy company.

Learn from others bad experiences. ALWAYS search “Name Of Company” in Google before you make a purchase. The review sites almost always show on the first page of search when “Name Of Company” has been blacklisted.

More on THIS STORY.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing scammers and thieves on The Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch.

City or Suburbs, Which is Safer?

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At one time everyone lived in the city, that’s all there was. Then suburban growth began and those who had money left the city for the suburbs. City inhabitants left back were often poor and where there is poor there seems to be crime.

There are many obvious differences between suburbia and city life including noise, congestion and crime. City kids are usually a little more street wise and suburban kids less so.

My parents grew up in the city and their parent’s grew up in the city. When I was young we lived in the city.

We moved to the “Leave It to Beaver” suburbs when I attended the first grade and I went through high-school a suburbanite. And because my parents were so young, (they were both 19 when I was born) I pretty much spent every weekend with my grandparents in the city. Growing up I kind of lived a “double life”. I had the idyllic upbringing of suburban life with the street savvy exposure of the city.

Over the years I’ve noticed lots of change in suburbia. Big change has occurred partly because of the Internet. With instant information and social media, the lines between city and suburb have been significantly blurred.

But what has obliterated those lines is crime. Crime now happens in suburbia just like it happens in the city. Statistically crime in the city is still higher than in suburbia, but the types of crimes, frequency and the violent nature of crimes are sometimes as bad in the suburbs as they are in the city.

Violence, burglaries, car theft, robberies and murder happen everywhere. And home invasions and the brutality that come with them are happening a lot in the suburbs.

In a Connecticut suburb Dr. William A. Petit Jr. was almost beaten to death while his wife and daughters, ages 17 and 11, were killed and the house was set on fire.

In a suburb in New Hampshire during a home invasion a mother is hacked to death with a machete and her daughter barley survives a similar attack.

What this all means is if you are an old school thinker and have grown up thinking “It can’t happen to me. Not here, we live in the burbs, that stuff happens in the city””…then you need to pay attention. If you live in the suburbs and neglect home security, not locking doors or thinking you don’t need a home security system is naïve.

Living in the suburbs no longer means you are insulated from crime. “Leave It To Beaver” is off the air.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Home Invasions on Montel Williams.

Supercookies: What Websites Know About You

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Most major websites now install cookies on your computer, which track what you do online. Over time, these cookies develop a profile, which becomes your digital fingerprint, to a certain extent. You may have noticed after searching for a specific product, advertisements for that particular product or brand appearing on various other websites you visit.

The New York Times reports , “advertisers are increasingly using powerful software known as supercookies, such as so-called Flash and document object management (or DOM) cookies, which can hold more information, and Web bugs or beacons, which let sites record statistics like what ads attracted you to the site and whether you bought something. They are not removed when you clear out your cookies.”

The “harm” done here is less damaging than it is invasive. Meaning I don’t see any physical harm or identity theft ever happening as a result of this refined marketing. More so, it is very intrusive to some peoples web surfing habits and the collecting of this type of information will continually define what we are presented when we travel to different websites.

With numerous privacy watchdogs taking this kind of advertising offensively, and the Obama administration now stepping in, we will surely see standards in this kind of marketing practice appear over the next few years.

The NYT post HERE provides a litany of resources to combat supercookies. Another great resource from Linda Criddle HERE

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing advertisers using “Internet spying” on Fox News.

Catching Criminals With a DNA “Spray”

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Security is all about layers of protection. The more layers that are put in place the more secure you and your family will be. For example, if you lock your doors that is one layer, but not enough. A home security system which includes an alarm, security cameras and even signage are all additional layers of protection.

An axiom of the security professional is to “predict and prevent”. This means by having the foresight to visualize the possibilities of crime happening, how and why, will help that professional to prevent such a crime by putting the security layers in place.

Much of the security philosophy described here is meant to be proactive and deter or prevent a criminal from being successful. With that in mind, with the exception of high quality security cameras, security doesn’t often lend itself to catching the bad-guy after they have been successful in committing a crime.

Generally we leave the task of apprehending “evil doers” up to law enforcement officials who have a litany of procedures, processes, and tools meant to determine “who dunnit”.

A new security system using cutting edge liquid technology could significantly reduce theft from businesses traditionally seen by criminals as easy targets is “DNA Guardian” right now available in Australia through  ADT Security, is an all-in-one high tech crime fighting tool which establishes a forensic link between suspects and specific crime scenes. Similar systems used overseas have reduced theft by 84% and achieved a 100% conviction rate in court.* According to DNA Guardian, their system is involved in eliminating armed robberies in businesses which were repeatedly targeted.

Sign me up. I want this!!

In the meantime:

Be proactive with the help of ADT Pulse, a new interactive smart home solution that goes beyond traditional home security to provide a new level of control, accessibility and connection with the home.

• Arm and disarm your home security system.

• Get notified of alarms and selected events via email and text messages as well as video clips.

• View your home through cameras and watch secure real-time video or stored video clips of events from monitored areas of the home.

• Access lights and appliances or set schedules to automate them.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing  Home Security and Identity Theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover.