A question that I’m sure not many people consider is “Do I actually need an alarm?” The answer, similarly unconsidered, is probably not. But that is with caveats. As a professional, I’ve broken into hundreds of houses a year for the best part of a decade. So, you’d think I’d be partly deaf from the […]
Do you need an alarm system? Read More »
Doing the rounds again this week is the old news that the accelerometers in various devices, notably the iPhone, can be used to spy on a users input. In 2009 they were claiming 80% accuracy on iPhone 4.(1) Tiny variations in the movement of the phone can be decoded to tell almost exactly where people
Stumbled across this earlier. I have a lot of dealings with the edges of criminality. I replace locks when keys are stolen, under a court warrant I break into places that may or may not have an owner, I see the results of burglary and repair them to a higher standard, and I open houses
In which Thievery is pondered Read More »
With the Queen’s Speech mere hours away, here is some very vaguely related news. Incorrigible rogues can sleep safely at night (or whenever) – it is no longer a criminal offence to be one in England and Wales. 308 other offences were also removed from the books. (Or perhaps haven’t been yet because it happens
Incorrigible rogues can sleep safely at night Read More »
A new initiative to boost confidence in the UK police has been launched. Islington, Lewisham and Havering in London are having specifically targeted ultra-local posters at bus stops and other “street level” locations on roads and other locations that are deemed to have a crime or anti-social behaviour problem. http://content.met.police.uk/Campaign/localpolicing R2D2 on steroids? Or a
Yes, it’s a crime-and-lock related news round-up! Read More »
We fit alarms, CCTV & locks to anywhere and anything. Got something you think can’t be secured? Try us. We have secured ancient relics in churches, down to the church organ to prevent people fiddling. We have fitted physical access control to web-based startups. Added CCTV to premises for deterrence and evidence after the fact.
Got a security problem? Read More »
Apparently, criminal gangs are using ‘secret signs’ to mark targets for burglary and they, stealing the idea from the hobo culture of the USA from years ago. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2412127/The-Da-Pinci-Code-Burglars-use-chalk-markings-outside-homes-help-criminals-target-rich-vulnerable.html I say ‘Apparently’, because, you know, you have to look at the source. But, we also have this report: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2509221/Burglars-target-homes-marked-stickers-scouts-check-streets-easy-targets.html Oh no, all panic, what should we
Chalk & stickers to mark burglary targets . what to do? Read More »
Following on from our last blog post, it might be worth explaining a little about how poor system design compromises security. A well designed security system will be hard to exploit, even with the latest technology. However, short sighted system designers (and by “system” we just mean anything that works with something else) often don’t
Physical device code cracking Read More »
Yes, these days you would think that the internet is no longer the “Wild Frontier” that it once was. The Silk Road is shut down, the Feds are taking over Bitcoin regulation, and the police and tax officials regularly monitor sites like eBay to catch those peddling stolen goods or making huge undeclared incomes. Yet
Tesco are selling lockpicks. WTF?! – Updated Read More »
I ran across some interesting info this evening about the results of statistical analysis on numerical passwords (Personal Identification Numbers, AKA PIN numbers, or, more correctly, just PINs) by Nick Berry, who now works as Facebook’s Data Scientist. The article is well worth a read. http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/september32012/index.html is a direct link. Or, if you prefer, he’s
How good and how secure is your PIN? Read More »
