Posts

How to Secure Your Home or Business On the Cheap

/in , /by

It doesn’t matter who you are or where you live, your home is at risk of being burglarized. According to numerous studies, in the US alone, a burglary occurs about once every 18 seconds, which equates to about 5,000 a day.

5WFortunately, you can secure your home or business against burglary, and it doesn’t have to cost you a fortune. Here are 5 ways that you can get peace of mind on the cheap:

  1. Repurpose Your Smartphone
    If you are like most, you probably have an old smart phone hanging around just collecting dust in a drawer. For free or a small fee, you can download apps for both Android and iPhone devices that allow your smart phone to become a surveillance system with almost no effort on your part. Simply search “Surveillance app” in your devices app store.
  2. Speaking of Cameras…
    Of course, you can always just buy a surveillance camera for your business or home. These are often network cams and are easy to use and affordable. These low cost security cameras are often motion-activated cameras that sends a live stream and alerts to the user’s smartphone via the cameras app. Some of the features to look for include:

    • Night Vision
    • Wide-angle lens
    • Siren
    • Automatic detection of animals

    You can buy the systems at major retailers, and it start as low as $50.00.

  3. Set Up Some Tripwires
    Sometimes simple and traditional is best, and tripwires can really do a nice job of protecting your home or business, and you can get them for as little as $20. In fact, with a bit of ingenuity, you can even make your own. Some of them have a loud sound, too, similar to a gunshot, which will seriously scare anyone who is sneaking around where they shouldn’t be. These are low-tech and perfect for anyone wanting to beef up their other security systems, as a multi-layer approach to security is best. Search “trip wire alarm” on eBay or YouTube for all kinds of options.
  4. Get a Guard Dog
    If the traditional approach appeals to you, consider a guard dog. People have been using guard dogs to protect their property since the time of Ancient Rome, and one of the most popular breeds for this type of work is the German Shepherd, Doberman or Belgian Malinois. These dogs are large, strong, and intimidating, and you definitely wouldn’t want to cross paths with one that was trained to keep you off its property. Just keep in mind, whatever breed you choose, that you must get a professional trainer for the best results.
  5. Make a Pact With Your Neighbors
    One of the best ways to protect your property is to work with your neighbors and keep an eye on each other’s homes. For example, if you know your neighbor is going on vacation and you have more than one car, park one of them in their driveway. This way, it looks as if someone is home. You also should take their mail in because burglars know if there is a lot of mail in the box, the home or business owner likely isn’t around.

Robert Siciliano personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen. See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video.

Home Security App/Camera witnesses two Burglars

/in /by

Danny Wheeler was alerted by his smartphone that had a home security app and a do it yourself camera/home security system that his home was being robbed. He was at work and could do nothing but send the real time video to New York City police, reports a story on abcnews.go.com. The burglars got away, however, by the time the place was swarming with police.

ANG3Such an application and system can allow the user to remotely access all the “goings-on” and in some case set off a loud alarm. Even if you have the most elaborate home security system, having one of these smartphone-alerting systems will add an extra layer of protection, and for sure, result in capture of thieves who are less quick at getting away.

These systems should be adjuncts to a full security system, as they don’t have round the clock monitoring and don’t directly contact police. And even though Wheeler’s thieves got away, their images have been retained for possible identification.

Wheeler posted the video on social media, reports an article on nydailynews.com. An intruder is seen entering via a window, and then a second man enters through another window. The men spent only about a minute rummaging through the home, exiting just before an alarm sounded.

There are over 15,000 views so far. Someone is bound to be able to identify the burglars.

Wheeler regrets calling the police before remotely triggering the house alarm. Had he set off the alarm the moment he realized what was happening, it’s possible that his J. Crew silver bracelet would not have been stolen from his bedroom.

Possessing one of these systems, as mentioned, adds a layer of security. The Angee home security system, see them on Kickstarter, is the only one with a video camera that rotates 360 degrees as it detects motion. And this high definition camera has smart zones; you can set up specific zones for monitoring. But Angee is more than just a video surveillance setup. It’s a self-monitored home security system.

Robert Siciliano, personal and home security specialist to Angee. Learn more about Angee in this Video. Support Angee on Kickstarter. See Disclosures.

Hidden Covert Cameras found in Woman’s Home

/in /by

Nicole Muscara’s alarm clock acquired an alarming feature: a hidden camera placed by a stalker. She discovered something odd when she one day set the alarm; it wasn’t her clock.

CAMStories like this are happening more commonly. Recently a Kansas City, Missouri woman discovered 11 hidden cameras in her apartment—placed there by her landlord.

As for Muscara, turns out a good friend of hers (whom she had initially refused to suspect) had put in the camera clock.

It’s common to not know you’re being stalked, or if you do, not know whom the stalker is. The stalker is an unhealthy person who feeds on the energy of their victim to get through the day.

It’s tough to keep track of the prevalence of stalking, especially with today’s technology, with predators spying via webcams and other schemes.

Consider the following recommendations for protection:

Take note of unwanted attention. Does anyone keep texting you, for instance, even though you don’t like this? Is someone continuing to make unwarranted comments or advances even though you’ve told them to stop? Who has access to your home even though you don’t trust them?

Set up a home security system. They’re now wireless, cheap and portable. Wireless IP cameras can connect to your Internet and you can watch your home via smartphone.

Shield your hotel room’s peep hole with paper. A creep can get a “reverse peep hole” and watch you from the outside in.

Get a wired/wireless camera detector. Cameras that creeps use are tiny and hard to spot visually. A reliable camera detector (costs at least $100) will scan your home/hotel room.

Call the police. If you “feel” someone is watching you, your sixth sense may very well be correct.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

Burglar Real Estate Agent caught on Surveillance Camera

/in /by

A homeowner’s video surveillance caught a 60-year-old man—a real estate agent—stealing women’s clothes from the house for sale while the owner and his wife were out of town.

5HThe homeowner presented police with the video, leading to the arrest of and burglary charge for Stephen Brumme. Brumme had arrived at the house in advance of a showing, but rummaged through the homeowner’s wife’s wardrobe in a bedroom closet and dresser, pocketing some shirts.

Police believe that this type of crime happens more often than people consider, and that Brumme has likely stolen women’s attire from other homes.

How can something like this be prevented? Here are tips:

  • Install security cameras as part of your home security system. Not only can they trigger an alarm that sets off additional lighting and loud sounds, but they can notify the homeowner with a phone call or text message.
  • Surveillance systems such as Dropcam allow the homeowner to view what’s going on in the house in real time.
  • The cost of a surveillance system will add value to your house. Plus, some homeowners’ insurance plans give discounts if your property is equipped with a solid security system.
  • A camera that’s in plain sight provides a hefty deterrent to potential intruders or vandals. Imagine the peace of mind this will give you when you’re away—or even at home overnight.
  • And even if someone does break in while you’re home, despite the video surveillance system in place, the crime will be caught on tape. This will prove invaluable in a lawsuit.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

Home Security Cameras Keep Contractors Honest

/in /by

I’m in Mexico, but by the time this is posted I’ll be manning the watch tower at my fort. While I want to detail every adventure and post it as a status update (this country is very interesting), I haven’t, and I’ll never post in social media, that’s just plain nuts.

So anyways, while I’m gone I’m having a considerable amount of work done to the castle such as floor sanding and painting. It’s all stuff that’s better off being done while I’m gone because it’s somewhat unhealthy (and very inconvenient) to live around.  Painting and the dust and polyurethane fumes generated from floor sanding is just too much for babies. Plus I’m a delicate flower.

I have no less than half dozen workers in and out of my home over the course of 2 weeks and lots can go wrong when the homeowner isn’t there to observe. Mistakes can be made and stuff can be stolen. I locked up most of what’s valuable, but things like desktop PCs are just too difficult to remove and relocate.

But no fear, thanks to my automated home system I’m able to monitor every detail of the process. My home security cameras can be accessed from my laptop and iPhone to monitor where the contractors are supposed to be and more importantly where they aren’t supposed to be in the home while I’m away.

The first contractor was the floor sander. And, did that process need my involvement from thousands of miles away?!  When they first got to the home they needed to access the fusebox to tap into it so the sander wouldn’t constantly pop a breaker. They never told me they needed to do that. Anyway, I directed them to the fusebox from afar and monitored the bosses’ activity through my home and from my mechanical room camera. It’s a good thing too because he ran his power cable out the window and when he was done he never shut the window. I knew this because my ADT Pulse™ home automation system alerted me that the window was open because of a sensor installed on it.  It rained and snowed that night and if I didn’t call him back to shut the window, it would have been a wet mess that would have caused interior damage.

Prior to leaving, I had shut off the heat because you don’t want the forced hot air furnace blowing dust around or sucking dust into a return air when sanding. But when he applied the polyurethane it was too cold inside and didn’t dry enough for him to complete the job over the two days allocated for the project. If he had to come back again on a third day he was going to charge me extra he said.

I was able to avert an extra charge and turn my home automated heat back on from Mexico via my iPhone and even raise the temperature to a toasty 75 to quickly dry the floor. Problem solved!

And then, there were the painters. Oh boy. That’s another story.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Home Security Source discussing ADT Pulse™ on Fox News.

Security Cameras Capture Vandal

/in /by

Back when man was scraping his knuckles on the ground security cameras were the size of mail boxes and were only affordable to businesses.  Banks, retail and convenience stores were the primary consumers of “Closed Circuit TV”.

Today security cameras are as small as a dime and some don’t cost much more. Everyone is installing cameras today and for good reason: They see more than you can, and they see it when you can’t.

WOWT reports a family had their ADT security system installed a little over a year and it has already solved a vandalism problem and given them peace of mind.

“The family’s husband would see a neighbor boy damage their property but every time he called the sheriff’s department he would get the same answer, without proof deputies couldn’t do a thing. The husband said, “I can’t do a thing about it unless you have proof. My camcorder didn’t help that much, you can’t catch them at night or anytime but this (his security cameras) is what captured somebody doing something to the house.”

“One time the siding was damaged, another time the mailbox was knocked over; someone even threw chemicals on their lawn, burning the grass. The security cameras provided pictures for deputies to identify the vandal. It was the next door neighbor kid. There was never another incident of vandalism.”

I have 16 security cameras in and around my home. Seven cameras are inside the home and are connected to my ADT Pulse™ System and I can access them on the internet and with my iPhone.

Recently In my yard a spotlight was broke off its mount. My immediate suspicion was a particular neighborhood kid. I reviewed the video footage from that past week and saw that it was a tree branch that knocked it down. That camera saved me from yelling at someone and looking like a jerk!

Besides the uber cool factor when I whip out my security camera apps at a party, the peace of mind is fantastic.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Home Security Source discussing ADT Pulse™ on Fox News.

Using Video To Catch a Nasty Neighbor

/in , , , /by

Living in the Northeast has its pros and cons. We have the four seasons, great food, entertainment, sports, everything is at your fingertips, and for me it’s where business gets done.

Drawbacks include lots of congestions, crime, traffic, bad attitudes and nasty neighbors. Most people I know have a neighbor they are in some kind of entanglement with. It’s everywhere. When houses are stacked on top of each other people get territorial and stuff happens.

A New York Times article highlights a few of these nasty scenarios that I’m talking about. One person from the article was quoted saying “I’m not sure now, whether to worry more about my neighbors or strangers.”

I hear you man. I HEAR YOU!

Installing video surveillance outside your home can be a deterrent to a burglar or home invader. Cameras are another layer of protection. But they can also catch a person doing things they shouldn’t too.

For example:

My cameras caught one of my neighbors attacking another neighbor. The film was used as evidence in court and the attacker moved.

Man catches a neighbor who “had been tossing plastic bags of dog excrement into the sculptured shrubs around a palm tree in his front yard.” Man gets a fine and is shamed on Youtube. He moved.

A former state district judge, is caught scratching the back of his neighbors car. The video, was posted on YouTube. Shamed.

One man used the cameras to document a “neighbor’s cats prowling and fouling the yard around his mobile home. He also discovered neighbors looking in his windows while he was away.” Posted to YouTube.

Another man who had items missing from his home caught his neighbor on film entering his basement and rooting around which was enough for the police to arrest him.

Video is available through ADT Pulse which provides customers with anywhere, anytime access to their home via smart phones or personal computers, including an iPhone application to:

• Arm and disarm their home security system.

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

• View their 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 on NBC Boston. Disclosures.

Police Arrest Six People in Ritzy Robbery Ring

/in , , , , , /by

Burglars broke into more than 50 homes in the high end areas of Miami and Palm Beach. Most of the victims were out to dinner and some were victims of home invasions.

The perps may have had a network in place of valets, waiters/waitresses or others who had an idea of who the victims were, their addresses and what their schedules were. Most importantly, someone on the inside of this network would inform the thieves when the victims would be gone from the home.

The thieves would enter the homes through locked or unlocked sliding doors generally in the back of the home. Their targets included high end jewelry, watches, gold and diamonds. Losses could be as high as 2 million dollars.

Getting the stolen jewelry back is often next to impossible. Jewelry is the quickest and easiest to fence.

“Police have dubbed the six people arrested for their participation in a burglary ring spanning three counties as the “Dinner Crew Set.”  Home surveillance video captured one of the thieves in action — a masked man with a two way radio.”

It’s obvious that most of these homes did not have home alarms or home security cameras. Many of these burglaries could have been prevented with simple investments that equate to a dollar a day for your family home security.

It’s amazing to me how people go out and spend all this money on expensive items but don’t lock them in a safe or protect them with a home security system.

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

Police Seek 2 Men, Woman in Stun-gun Robberies

/in , , , /by

A Stun gun or electromuscular incapacitation device when pressed against a human’s body causes a disruption in the electrical impulses of the nervous system.  When someone is “shocked” in the upper chest area where the arms meet the chest or the lower abdomen on the left or right sides and in the upper thighs, they may lose the ability to walk, talk or function normally.  Stun guns are considered non-lethal, which means they aren’t supposed to kill. However there have been situations where people have died when a stun gun was involved in subduing them.

Seattle police are searching for a trio of robbers responsible for daytime attacks on three women using stun guns.

In each case they were “crimes of opportunity.” Crimes of opportunity generally mean the victims were in the wrong place at the wrong time, but what it really means is they were taken by surprise.

The women were going about their business and the robbers attacked them. One was pushed into her trunk then her purse stolen. Her wallet with her home address and her keys were stolen so her landlord changed her locks.

Another woman was followed home and while taking groceries out of her car was accosted by 2 men.

A third woman was in her driveway when she too was robbed when she heard the crack of a stun gun then fell to the ground hitting her head.

An attacker’s tool of trade is the element of surprise. They like to attack from behind when you aren’t paying attention. They also attack from the side or often use a distraction up front.  It’s easy to say all these attacks could have been prevented. But as they say, easier said than done.

By being fully aware of your surroundings you look less like a potential target.  When a bad guy stalks you, if they know you see them, they may move on to someone who they can easily surprise.

Always know what is going on behind you.

Be prepared for someone approaching and distracting you.

When pulling into your garage if you have the option shut the door behind you before you get out of your car.

When pulling into your driveway always look around your car before getting out.

Consider a home security alarm that also has home security cameras.  That same alarm equipped with a panic button can help you if you see someone paying unwanted attention. By hitting that panic button it sets off an alarm getting attention to the situation.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to ADT Home Security Source discussing non-lethal personal protection and home invasions on the Gordon Elliot show.

How Secure is your Mobile Phone?

/in , , , , , /by

I love my iPhone. The fact that I have a full web browser and can access all my data anytime from anywhere is fantastic. Plus my iPhone allows me to peek in on my home security system with an application that’s connected to my home security cameras. If I’m on the road I can log in and see the family doing whatever activities in our outside the home.

If you don’t have a phone that you can integrate with your home security system I strongly recommend considering an iPhone. Besides being the coolest thing to be able to show someone live video of your home base, it is incredible peace mind to check in.

And consider if that phone fell into the wrong hands what could come of it? In my case not much due to the fact I’m pretty well locked down.

If you have one of the popular brands below pay attention:

BlackBerry:

The Blackberry is easily the most popular Smartphone on the market and, according to cellphones.org, the most ‘natively’ secure. Just by having a Blackberry, you are one step ahead but that doesn’t mean you don’t still have to enable your security settings.

Enable your password. Under General Settings set your password to ‘on’ and select a secure password. You may also want to limit the number of password attempts. Test to make sure that your password works by locking your phone to confirm.

Encrypt your data. Under Content Protection settings, enable encryption. Then, under ‘Strength’ select either ‘stronger’ or ‘strongest’. Though ‘strongest’ is the most secure, ‘stronger’ has faster encryption/decryption. Under the Content Protection settings you will also have the option to encrypt your address book.

When visiting password protected internet sites do not save your passwords to the browser. Anyone who finds your phone and manages to unlock it will then have access to all of your account data and your identity will be stolen. It may be annoying to have to enter your password every time but the extra 30 seconds is certainly worth avoiding identity theft.

iPhone:

The iPhone, which has captured over 25% of the Smartphone market, the second highest share in the industry, has notoriously poor encryption capabilities. As such, enabling the included security features and adding apps that allow you to secure your information is key to being a ‘safe’ iPhone owner.

Enable the Pass code Lock and Auto-Lock. Go into your phones General Settings and set the 4-digit phone pass code to something that you will remember but is not ‘significant’ to you. That means no birth dates, no anniversary dates, no children’s ages. Then, go back into General Settings and set the Auto-Lock. Although you can choose from 1 min to 5min, the quicker your phone locks the safer it is from those who might be tempted to tamper with it while you aren’t looking.

Turn your Bluetooth off unless you are using it. Bluetooth allows you to easily connect to a hands-free head set or to send files from your phone to a computer. However, this also works the other way. A tech savvy hacker with a laptop can easily hack your phone from the Bluetooth connection if it’s on.

Download Simple Vault 1.2. Simple vault adds a second layer of protection to your iPhone by allowing you to password protect each of your apps. It also allows you to store your sensitive information right on your phone, unlike other security apps which send it to you over the internet when you access it

General:

Whenever possible, wait till you get to your computer on a secured network before accessing sensitive information. When responding to important work emails or checking your bank account balance it really is best to wait until you can access this information from a secure network. Anti-virus and anti-malware software as well encryption capabilities for computers are miles ahead than what is currently available for phones. So ask yourself before you enter your credit card number to that online store: Is it worth identity theft for me to do this now or can it wait till I get back to the office/home?

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Mobile Phone Spying on Good Morning America