Identity Theft Continues To Be A Real Problem. How Would You Protect Yourself?

Identity theft continues to be a big problem affecting many people across a wide range of society.

You already like to protect your homes and families from unwanted intruders by installing quality (hopefully) security products and getting them installed by trained and qualified locksmith technicians.

But what do you do to better secure yourself from identity theft?

An article in Readers Digest recently appeared that discusses 26 Secrets An Identity Thief Doesnt Want You To Know.

Essentially, there are many little things you can be doing to minimize the chances that these opportunists attempt, to interrupt and destroy your peace of mind, your security, your financial security and those of your family and friends.

Being aware of these secrets might help (in some small way) to better protect you as you move forward.

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Controversial Opinion In New Article Suggests Why NOT To Recommend Or Buy An Amazon Echo Smart Speaker

A new article has appeared that discusses the authors reasoning about why you should think twice before purchasing an Amazon Echo smart speaker.

A group of hackers at the recent hacker convention Defcon Security Conference in Las Vegas, presented a discussion about the ease in hacking the Amazon Echo and using it to "listen" (spy) on anyone speaking within it's vicinity.

Apparently (and reasonably), the researchers informed Amazon in advance about their findings, prior to making the presentation at the conference.

Amazon had implemented a patch for their top selling product after being informed and a spokesperson for Amazon advised that the vulnerability required physical access to the product, to enable the hack. The security patch was released in July.

Of concern, is the fact that the researchers DID NOT have physical access to the devices in question. They only had access to the LAN (Local Area Network).

The article appears in the source below.

The reason we include this article in our site, is because Amazon Echo devices and other smart speakers are increasingly being used to operate smart home product including (but not limited to) electronic door security products, deadbolts, alarm systems, cameras.

Personally, I feel that the article should have been worded differently and that authors should think hard before directly vilifying another company's product offering.

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ZoreX - Gun Security At It's Finest.

We first wrote about this sensational product about 2 years ago when the Israeli startup first designed and produced their working prototype. Read the article we wrote here.

A recent article in Policemag.com is showing the wide acceptance and support of this unique security product that is simple, secure and functional.

It is very well known that the USA suffers from almost unequaled gun crimes compared to many other countries. The SCOTUS (Supreme Court Of The United States) even rewrote the second amendment to the Constitution of The United States of America in 2003, to reflect a contested opinion as to the meaning of the words therein. The modification to the amendment relocated a comma in the statement and in so doing, altered the complete meaning of the statement. The decision was voted 5-4 along political party lines. The ensuing years have seen greater gun sales and an almost prohibition of other laws or attempts to increase gun control rules in the USA.

This unique product has been carefully thought through and easily provides much sought after security for gun owners who desire to keep their arms protected from their children or burglars, without costing a fortune and without any difficult process to engage or disengage the lock.

It uses a simple combination mechanism to unlock, while allowing a gun to maintain it's loaded magazine. The gun owner can operate the weapon quickly and expertly without sharing the combination (easily). This in itself maintains the security of the weapon and complies with the second amendment right for all citizens to bear arms.

This next video shows how simply the product works.


Locksmiths and Gun Smiths (2 closely related trades) continue to offer security solutions to meet the needs of gun owning customers. Everything from especially constructed high-security gun safes, to trigger locks, to padlocks and chains. But with all these available solutions, there is still too much gun crime.

Zore provides a new unique and ultra-secure product that provides unparalleled protection of your firearm. The unique combination mechanism is virtually foolproof and completely able to be reset by the gun owner quickly and easily.

Read some of the reviews in the source below.

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Price Drop On Keyed Pocket Door Lock - While Stock Lasts

As the original importer and distributor of the Lockwood 7444 Keyed Pocket Door Lock in North America, we have decided to clear our shelves and discount the product.

We drop the price today to $120.00 from the previous price (12% less).

Shipping and handling has not changed.

While stocks last!


New Pricing Exclusively available at the link in the source below.

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To Touch Or Not To Touch...

Yesterdays article, "Has Tapplock Collapsed?" is seeing viral circulation and obviously is hitting a nerve.

We have continued to write multiple articles over the last 10 years about pro's and con's relating to biometric and specifically fingerprint access control products.

As you can see by our above link about fingerprint products, there are many options available across the wider marketplace, hoping to cash in on the fingerprint recognition phenomena, as well as conflicting arguments i have suggested, that fingerprint access control also comes with severe limitations.

Our first foray into biometric fingerprint products was with the Bioaxxis Thumblock Deadbolt. Bioaxxis unfortunately couldnt survive the early years of the burgeoning fingerprint controlled door lock market. Their product was stellar. It worked very simply and was self preserving, even though they suffered from the debilitating issue of security control.

Specifically, the need to reduce or turn down the security of the image recognition of the scanner to enable sufficient operations of the product. This unfortunate attribute contributed greatly to the products demise and I suspect the wider market too.










The Tapplock article further reinforces the current-age issues relating to quality control. There is a penchant in recent years, especially since the beginning of the modern internet era, (Circa 1995 - And the beginning of Netscape Navigator - The beginning of The World Wide Web), to design and build new products without an element of care - but to quickly release to market to capitalize on new money. This unfortunate realization shows that the modern era, while showing significant improvements to our lives, is also moving far too quickly for our own benefits.

Bioaxxis also came out with their commercial product a year later. The Bioaxxis Thumblock Handle, with Key, Fingerprint, Proximity Pad and Digital Pad Entry, checked off multiple desires for total access control.

We installed and sold about 7 of these fabulous products until we recognized that biometric fingerprint access control technology was seriously flawed and the best market for the promising technology was in the aged care arena, where elderly users (who were constantly losing their keys and their ability to remember PIN codes) couldnt (for the most part) lose their fingers. The issues about scanner sensitivity almost killed the fingerprint market and combined with poor quality, rushed to market manufacturing from cheap manufacturing facilities abroad, has even seen stock market darling and leading technology company Apple, remove the readers from their most popular product the iPhone.

Touch control products have made their way into many aspects of all our lives, but I suggest that security is not one that we will see to continue, due to the obvious shortcomings.

I believe that facial recognition technolgy, Iris scanners and voice recognition will enter the mainstream far more rapidly and with better security features than fingerprint technology could have ever hope to achieve.

Allegion Announce Acquisition Of Leading Australian Residential Hardware Manufacturer And Largest Australian Locksmith Company

Breaking News: Allegion, the parent company announced 30 days ago (May 13, 2018), their acquisition of leading Australian residential door hardware manufacturer Gainsborough and at the same time the acquisition of Australia's largest locksmith service provider API Locksmiths.















Gainsborough produce many leading residential door hardware among other offerings.

Gainsborough Hardware can be found in many dwellings and is even becoming a sought after offering to the wider USA market.





API Locksmiths are one of Australia's oldest and longest established locksmith companies. In fact, I completed my apprenticeship with AF Stewart Locksmiths in 1988 before they were later (much later) acquired by API Locksmiths.

This acquisition by Allegion is a major shake up of the locksmith market across Australia.






Allegion are well known in North America and around the world as the parent company behind brands like:

AD Systems

AD Systems are a company first established in 2013 specializing in upscale commercial sliding door entrance systems, tailored to hospitals, medical clinics and offices to meet the modern needs of doctors, architects and space conscientious builders and tenants.

Installation Of Upgraded Gate Locks From Standard To High Security Using D&D Technologies Lokk Latch Deluxe And Bilock Extreme Security Bump Proof And Virtually Pick Proof, Copy Proof Keys

 Recently we were called to upgrade a clients gate locks to double cylinder high-security and expand the already secure Bilock Extreme Security Key System. The system is a few years old, but it has been very effective in preventing her nosy neighbors and other vagabonds from getting in to her house.

But these would-be opportunists continued to play games and were accessing her perimeter gates by simply picking the simple wafer/disc tumbler key cylinder found on the cheaper version of D&D Technologies gate lock.

Following is a description of the process involved in dismantling the locks, installing the Bilock cylinders into them and then installing the new locks to the requested gates.

This is what we saw on first time arrival onsite. The original lock installed to the gate and post shows the existing wafer/disc tumbler keyhole.

Original D&D Gate Lock On Front Gate

Breaking News: FBI To America: Reboot Your Routers Immediately

Breaking News: The Federal Bureau of Investigations recently released an alert to all Americans who may use an Internet connected router in their homes and businesses.

The Internet Crime Complaint Center sent a rare Public Service Announcement declaring, "Foreign Cyber Actors have compromised hundreds of thousands of home and office routers and other networked devices worldwide."


A great many security products today are using router connected protocols to connect those devices to internal residential and commercial networks.

Many of these products including (but not limited to) alarm systems, closed circuit television cameras (CCTV), door locks, intercom systems and door bells etc, are often connected to WiFi routers in your home or office.

The nature of today's consumer marketplace appears to be fascinated by the growing Internet of Things (IoT) products that enable many of us to enjoy modern "connected" services that protect us, make our lives easier and keep us in communication range with each other.

The locksmith industry worldwide continues to evolve and many locksmiths today are busy recommending and installing modern "connected" security products, meeting the increasing demands of the marketplace.

Some of these "new generation" products are very good quality and often expensive too. Maintaining the security of your home and business is of paramount importance to protecting our families and our colleagues, aside from our customers.

According to the FBI, hackers are using VPNFilter Malware to target small office and home office routers saying, "VPN Filter is able to render small office and home office routers, inoperable" and are warning, "The malware can potentially also collect information passing through the router. Detection and analysis of the malware's network activity, is complicated by it's use of encryption.".

The FBI recommends, "any owners of small office and home office routers, reboot the devices to temporarily disrupt the malware and aid the potential identification of infected devices".

They also advise to consider disabling remote management settings on devices, use encryption and choose new and different passwords.

With the increasing number of "connected devices" in the wider market, security of your home, office and other connected products are potentially gravely affected by this new hack.

We suggest that all our customers and anyone using or relying on Internet Connected devices, including your door locks, your CCTV systems, your alarm systems and your door bells or intercoms, to immediately perform a soft reset of your WiFi routers. This action will temporarily mitigate the malware's operation. It may not completely remove the malware from an infected router and if you are further concerned, we suggest you perform a factory hard reset of the router.

We have been writing about security issues with IoT devices, in increasing articles in the last 12 months.

Some of these articles include:

New Digital 'Hurricane' Churns Gathering Strength To Land Blow On The Internet

KRACK - Dangerous WiFi Security Flaw Discovered. And It Affects ALL WiFi Devices

BlueBorne - A New Attack That Exposes Almost Every Bluetooth Connected Device

AirB&B - Lockstate WiFi Door Locks Bricked By Manufacturer Update.

Internet-Connected Garage Door Operator Disabled In Retaliation For Bad Review

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Flaw In Ring Doorbell Camera - Prevents Deleting Previous Users

(video removed)
Check the source below for the video

We continue to monitor the cyberworld of all things security related and just came across this interesting piece of news concerning Ring,

You remember Ring, dont you?

Amazon recently completed their buyout of Ring, to meld it into their Amazon Key program network.

We first talked about Ring in an article in June 2015.

The system is very smart and not bad looking however it is a flawed piece of technology that could be more of a security problem than a benefit.

Then there is the lawsuit against Ring (before the Amazon buyout) by Skybell, the original patent holder of many of the technologies that Ring is built upon. We also wrote about this in an article in January 2018.

I'm sure Amazon were not prepared for the headaches they have acquired. But the Ring management are no doubt smiling all the way to the bank.

I see a great number of the Ring door bell in my travels, so it is obviously a popular product (even though it was rejected during it's Shark Tank debut)

Perhaps the many customers who purchased the product were just not aware of it's shortcomings as discussed in the video above.

Not just that, but burglars are actually being pictured stealing Ring doorbells from houses.
And people still want to allow Amazon to be able to access your home with their Amazon Key program?

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D&D Technologies Continues To Lead The World Of Gate, Fence Locks And Hinges

We have been extolling the virtues of this world leading company for many years now and as the new summer swimming season beckons in the northern hemisphere, we continue to sing the praises of the leading life safety products that D&D Technologies produce.

This fine example of Australian Ingenuity, continues to impress the entire world with it's superbly constructed and high quality range of locks, hinges and alarms.

D&D incorporated high security key cylinders into many of their range of products to satisfy the growing commercial market and the desire to include these fabulous locking products in high-security restricted key systems like (but not limited to) our fabulous Bilock Extreme Security Keying Systems. 

Bilock are another Australian designed high-security products manufacturer that have been around since the 1970's. We have been working with Bilock products for almost our entire career in the locksmith trade (now approaching 35 years). We continue to be one of the largest Bilock dealers in the Midwest of the USA, still representing the product since we first kicked off operations here in 2006.

We have been called periodically by customers across our geographical region to offer services and key duplication or origination for some of the D&D Technologies products, specifically their Magnalatch product and a number of their Lokklatch products. Our ability to include these gate locks in our Bilock systems only increases the security of the applications.

D&D Technologies products are recommended by many AHJ's (Authorities Having Jurisdiction), life safety officers, local government building inspectors around this country and the whole world. They are not just beautiful in their design, but simply installed and very easily operated.

We have been selling their products for many years in Australia and now here in the USA.

See our range of articles about D&D Technologies products

Bulldog GD400 Heavy Duty Garage Door Lock And Installation

 Earlier this week we completed an unusual request for a customer. The customer needed to secure his garage door with much better security than the flimsy standard garage door lock and assembly to protect substantial value in tools and inventory.

There are many options available to suggest for this type of application and I remember that the Bulldog GD400 is definitely one of the better products out there.

The unique strength of The Bulldog GD400 is it's best quality. Made from treated 3/8" (10mm) thick steel plate and using another 3/8" (10mm) thick steel plate for internal anchoring and held to the door with stainless steel hardened carriage bolts and pressure nuts, the product not only looks great but is very, very strong.

The strike plate is a 4" (100mm) long hardened steel tube that is anchored into cement.

Following see our install procedure...

The first step is to mark the holes in the door and drill pilot holes through the outer skin and into the aluminum rail that makes the internal frame of the door.

Drill a couple of holes to hold the plate to the door. We only drilled two of the four holes just to line up and level the product and prepare for the next installation steps.

Once we attached the plate to the door, at the right height, we rested the plate on the strike tube and penciled around the bottom plate.

Now that we have marked the spot for the strike tube location it is time for the hard part. Drilling a 5" (125mm) deep hole in the cement garage floor base. This is quite an older home in an older part of our region and the original builders laid a 6" (150mm) thick concrete floor with heavy gravel embedded within their mix.

Drilling the hole took 2 hours alone using a heavy masonry drill bit and hammer drill as shown below and we used a cold chisel to help with the finer hole adjustments. 

Working slowly and constantly measuring and remeasuring to maintain accuracy, and you eventually end up with the correct sized hole, to the necessary depth.

You can see how deep we were required to drill to fit the strike tube into the concrete floor

You can see the mixture of gravel in the cement in this next image.

We poured a little sand and stone mix into the hole to get the strike tube to sit at the appropriate height and then filled our hole with new cement mortar, anchoring the strike into the concrete.

We deliberately made the cement into a little hill, so that when it dried it would lessen the chance of a tripping hazard.

The end result of the fitting looks good. All that's left is the mandatory 48 hour drying time. It is a good idea to keep the application wet while it is drying, to assist with curing. 

 2 days later we returned to square up the fitting, drill the extra holes and secure the inside mounting bracket.

 The end result is a nice and square (plum) fitting that is super strong.

The completed installation shows the stainless steel hardened 7 pin tubular (Ace) cylinder locking body, that secures using stainless steel ball bearings inside the strike tube. In the first image at the top of the article, you can see a rubber cap that fits over the cylinder. This protects from rain, dirt and grease entering the cylinder and it is recommended to use it for increased product longevity.

Visit the manufacturers website in the source below to purchase.

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New Articles Across The Web Point To Increasing Media interest In Amazon Key Service

We have written a few articles in recent months about the recent Amazon takeover of Ring and their intention to meld it into their Amazon Key Network of Smart Home products.

The Ring product has seen stellar sales in recent years, after failing to score a deal on the very popular television show, Shark Tank.

I find it especially interesting that this recent acquisition by Amazon arrives on the heels of a patent infringement lawsuit by Skybell, who maintain that they are the original patent holders of the technology (see our article).

According to an article on Cnet (see article), the Amazon acquisition of Ring was finalized in February. The article reports that Limp ( a Seattle based company) and Siminoff (from Ring's California head office), took the opportunity to discuss some more details about the acquisition after the deal closed. The article alleges (unconfirmed) that Amazon paid about $1 Billion to acquire Ring.

Another article appearing in The Guardian (UK), also confirms the deal details and also indicates (like Cnet) that Amazon will continue to let Ring trade in it's own right (like Bezos does with the Washington Post), but that as a result of the Amazon takeover, Ring drops its price for it's award winning product to US$100 from US$150 and £89 from £159.

It is no secret that we are not impressed with this offering. With the amount of customer data issues, across the news today and Amazon being one of the largest acquirer of customer buying/purchasing data, combined with the attempts to infiltrate the residential and commercial physical  and electronic security markets with sub-par quality products, we feel that allowing companies like these to enjoy unfettered access to your private dwellings, even outside of regular business hours is opening you and your family up to increased security issues.

I would expect insurance companies to jump on these changes and no doubt increase insurance premiums because you allow more access to your properties than normal.

As a concerned security products installer and locksmith services provider, I feel it is my responsibility to inform you of the shortcomings and security issues surrounding the use of services like Amazon Key might bring.

Far be it from me to tell you what to do and whom you choose to give access to your doors, but I will continue to refuse to open myself and my family up to the possibility of unauthorized and uncontrollable entry to our home and properties.

What will you do?

Man Arrested In 8 Home Break Ins In Maryland Height, Creve Coeur Area; Residents Were Home At The Time

Pictured above is a Google Maps cropped image of the Maryland Heights and Creve Coeur, Missouri area.

According to a recent article in the St Louis Post Dispatch, a man was arrested in connection with 8+ alleged break ins in the Creve Coeur and Maryland Heights areas, where the opportunist broke into residents homes while the residents were at home.

Apparently this opportunist simply walked in through unlocked doors.

The article goes on to name the alleged offender and more details on bail etc. (see the source below)

Crimes of opportunity occur when confident yet brazen opportunists will take advantage of unsuspecting residents who may be home asleep at the times of their crimes.

As a professional locksmith and security products installer, I have been installing and repairing doors and security products across 4 continents for about 35 years now and have seen many and varied aftermaths of crimes involving break in. Many homeowners and residents incorrectly assume they are still protected even when they are home, often by their alarm systems. Unfortunately, in many cases the alarm systems are not turned on if you're home. Vigilant and concerned residents will lock their doors at night and sometimes set alarms to protect their families and their properties.

There are many and varying products available today to enhance and increase the security of our homes and businesses. Many people already have deadbolt locks installed on their doors, but these are useless if the locks are left unlocked. Thankfully, many modern day electronic and battery operated deadbolt locks include a self locking feature which is usually a motor driven bolt mechanism that automatically throws the deadbolt 10-15 seconds after the door is closed. And while this can be a great feature to have, many residents find that their doors are often not aligned correctly to allow the deadbolt to throw fully or suitably.

Other security features can include handle sets that are set to be locked externally all the time (an option that can be manually switched on and off as desired, depending on the brand of lock set).

In bygone years, before the modern day knob and deadbolt became resurgent, many residents used a surface mounted rim nightlatch as their primary lock on entry doors. The nightlatch simply locked every time the door was shut (unless snibbed open)...

Yale were the original creator of the famed modern day nightlatch.








In later years many manufacturers improved the simple night latch design by creating Rim Deadlatches similar to the Yale No.1 (pictured here)

Other brand like the Lockwood 001 deadlatch (Australia) became synonymous with almost all front doors in Australia and New Zealand.

Today, double cylinder (keyhole both sides of door) locks are frowned upon by AHJ's (authorities having jurisdiction), building inspectors, code compliance officers, fire marshals and insurance companies because of the chance to be physically locked inside and unable to escape easily should an emergency occur.

Whereas some police officers and supposed security appraisers will suggest that double cylinder (keyed inside and out) locks increase your security, the reality is that life safety trumps security in all cases.

The improvement in the deadlatches that made them much stronger and better security was because of the deadlatch activator that effectively prevented the main latch from being able to be slipped back easily (you can see the little activator in the picture above - just below the main latch).
Combined with often concealed mounting screws and extra long strike plate screws, security can be dramatically enhanced using a rim deadlatch.

Many of these newer style of deadlatches are also available in a non-internal keyed version and most locksmiths can explain this to you if you ask.

We have been providing premium quality lock and security products and services in our hometown region for about 12 years now (we reside in Creve Coeur) and are called often by residents in the area and the wider areas and surrounding towns to repair and enhance the security of their homes and businesses. We are happy to provide no obligation, free home security inspections and estimates to help you improve your home or business security. We will determine likely areas where your home or business might be vulnerable and suggest cost effective solutions to better protect you.

Most locksmiths around the country and across the world will also provide similar services. I strongly suggest that you make contact with a local locksmith in your town and have them provide you with a security appraisal and estimate that could better protect your property, your family and your friends.

Above all - REMEMBER to Lock Your Door at night!

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How Much Does It Cost To Change Locks

Many enquiries that locksmiths receive, are about the cost to change locks. (UPDATE: Our first cost Increase in six years charges $17.50 per keyhole, nowadays)

Often, clients are meaning to inquire as to just changing the combinations of their existing locks, so they can maintain the same hardware on their doors.

Or when the keys to their house, office or automobile have been misplaced, stolen or even copied unknowingly (suspected), they have the need to re-code their locks.
Also many new home buyers or new tenants want to make sure that previous residents of their property can no longer gain entry.

Locksmiths across the country vary greatly in their fees. There are accepted industry averages published in locksmith publications like The National Locksmith magazine and the Locksmith Ledger magazine annually, but the going rate can vary from around $5.00 per keyhole to as much as $20.00 per keyhole for residential or commercial door locks and from $10.00 to $35.00 for automobile locks. Often this does not include labor for the removal and refitting of locks. (prices determined circa 2012)

Master-keying is another charge that most locksmiths charge slightly higher fees for. Often, specialist products like Medeco or Multlock or Primus or Best or Assa or Abloy or Bilock products can incur significantly increased fees due to the higher cost for the pin or disc tumblers.

Locks210.com charges a standard fee of $17.50 per keyhole to re-key a standard residential or commercial door cylinder sometimes including labor for removal and refitting. Master-keying is $25.00 per keyhole.

We can offer automobile re-keying services but prices are subject to application. There are many and varying brands and manufacturers of automobile lock cylinders, requiring multiple different keying kits. Stocking all possible kits to service all makes and models of foreign and domestic vehicles requires significant amounts of warehousing that directly impacts costs.

If the products are brought to us, we charge the same fees without labor of course.

Most locksmiths will provide the first 2 keys at no charge. For residential or commercial doors (not automotive) we provide the first 3 keys.

As a guide, we charge $29 to attend your site (within 25 miles of our workshop) and $70 for the first hour labor on site, which usually includes up to the first four (4) keyholes rekeyed.

One point to remember, when it comes to selecting the most suitable service professional to complete your project, "if you only want to pay peanuts, expect to get monkeys!"

For an obligation free estimate contact us today on (314)266-1533.

Amazon Alexa Being Built Into Houses In Sydney Australia

Amazon Alexa

 A recent article I read with interest was about the building in of Amazon's Alexa Smart Speaker, being built into new construction dwellings in Sydney Australia by a Perth based IoT company.

We are well aware of these Smart Speakers that have become an almost ubiquitous part of our psyche in recent times.

Amazon, recently approved for widespread marketing in Australia have started selling their Alexa product there and this enterprising company has devised a system to build it into new construction homes.


Google's offering, the Google Home Smart Speaker has also set the world on fire since it's release and is fast becoming a solid competitor to Amazon's Alexa.

Google Home

Amazon and Google are both leading the charge to adoption of Smart Search and voice controlled products including our door locks and security systems with a fervor not seen in many years and is setting the building industry on fire with slews of new Smart Products that can be controlled with just our voices. A Star Trek world inches closer to reality. Perhaps an agrarian mindset is not too far off?

The number of battery powered door locks that are continuing to enter the market are offering consumers wide choice in styles and features and few have integrated Alexa or Home into them at this time. I still believe that battery technology is too inferior at this time to make the investment in battery operated locks in my home. I believe that once we figure out how to conveniently and easily connect our door locks to mains power (perhaps with battery back-up), we will have solved the dilemma of the times. That dilemma? The constant and never ending need to be replacing batteries regularly.

I was working at a customer's home today, who was suffering from a malfunction to her new battery operated door lock. Her door had dropped due to weathering, causing the bolt mechanism to bind in the strike hole making the battery operated motor driven bolt work far too hard to release. After trying multiple times, the batteries died and she was locked out. I came out, picked the lock and put a wedge under the door to lift the whole door allowing the bolt to travel correctly.

I convinced her to carry her house key "just in case" in future. I also installed a long screw in the top hinge that re-adjusted the door to the correct level, allowing the deadbolt motor to operate the way it is supposed to.

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Price War Begins - Customers To Win Big - Lockwood 7444 Keyed Pocket Door Lock Price Drop - Now only $133

A price war has begun. A new player has entered the market and selling on Amazon.

They have dropped the price of The Lockwood  7444 Keyed Pocket/Cavity Door Lock to $135, so to combat them we are dropping to $133.

We have been selling this product for 7 years and honor the manufacturers warranty, unlike other re-sellers who don't.

The impending tariffs to be imposed by the current USA administration are expected to hit all consumer  prices in the coming months/years.

Besides inflation, which has been on the rise for years now (not according to Wall St though) and evident on Main St, seeing many manufacturers prices increases, some 3 times in the last 12 months, we small businesses are less immune to the price volatility than our bigger competition.

I know many colleagues in my industry who have not raised their prices (on service and labor) in many years. Some are still charging similar prices to the late 1990's.

It is not like we enjoy raising prices but when our competitors are vying in a "race to the bottom" mentality, we have no choice but to join or fail. 

Labor is and always has been a fixed cost, that rises with the CPI (Consumer Price Index), but for many years labor rates/wages have not increased while costs of consumer goods continues to increase rapidly. Businesses today find that they cannot compete with the eBay's and Amazon's and Wal-Mart's and Home Depot's, Lowes, K-Mart's, Target's etc in retail prices. The customer is the only beneficiary of  cheaper prices and while this is a good thing for them, the fact that many/most smaller businesses (the largest employer sector of the wider economy) continue to lose market share, is a really bad omen for the future.

I have been a continuing professional locksmith for almost 35 years, having worked on 4 continents and delivered service to many and varied customers. Quality and professional expertise can be costly, but what do you want? What do you expect? I know that when I call a service professional, I demand the best quality products and services at fair value prices.

Remember this, "If You Only Want To Pay Peanuts, Expect To Get Monkeys!"

Florida Shooting Update - Hurricane-Proof Glass Found To Mitigate Losses

 We read with interest an article from CBS New York, a story about the use of hurricane-resistant glass in a window at the Florida school where a crazed gunman ran rampant recently, killing 17 people and sparking huge national exposure toward the gun debate in America.

The article tells about the use of hurricane-resistant glass and how it actually mitigated the loss of more lives.

We have previously written about ShatterGARD, a sensational window film product made by our friend and colleague, Jordan Frankel of Global Security Experts Inc.

This product can be applied to the surface of an existing glass window to dramatically increase the security of the window.

The talk, in recent times about initiatives aimed at thwarting the increasing quantities of gun related shooting incidents tends to fall by the wayside with people demanding that our elected representatives attempt to alter the nations gun laws to attempt to mitigate the ever increasing deaths by gun.

I understand the desire to change the law, but will that prevent the problems? I doubt it. Even though I grew up in a country that radically changed it's gun laws a generation ago and have since not experienced mass-murders by gun to the extent of previous, I am also a firm believer in Freedom Of Choice.

The second amendment to the USA Constitution is a hotly debated topic across modern news, social media and in many discussion groups, almost everywhere you go.

Having spent my entire working career in the security industry, I have been exposed to many products and services that can and do provide significant products and services to increase the security protection of our doors, windows, walls etc.

Bullet-resistant products have been around for many years and many of these products have been found to greatly increase protection from bullets and the smash and grab techniques of would be criminals.

If the security of your loved ones is of concern to you, wouldnt it be a consideration to employ the use of products already in the market that can and do provide personal protections from gun related incidents, rather than attempting to change the law?

I cannot be sure how long the article will be available to see. View the source below for the article.

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Lock Industry Mergers - HES And Securitron Combine To Form Assa-Abloy Electronic Security Hardware

Breaking News: Two companies already owned by Lock Industry monolith Assa-Abloy, have decided to merge and form the start of Assa-Abloy Electronic Security Hardware.

HES are a well known manufacturer of electric strikes and electronic access control products that have dominated the access control industry for over 40 years. Their continued wide ranging use in residential, commercial, institutional and industrial markets, cemented their market dominance.

Securitron, began operations in 1977 with the release of their patented "E Profile Magnetic Lock", a game changing product that dramatically increased physical security protection for entry points.
Throughout their years, Securitron have continued their impressive research and development initiatives and released market changing products including, but not limited to, "Touch-Sense Panic Exit Devices" among other products.

Assa-Abloy recognized the important and unique research and development by these two companies and separately, bought them out at different times in the last few years.

Assa-Abloy has maintained a policy of limited interference in a company it has purchased, allowing many of those companies to continue their business models, but with the strength of the Assa-Abloy Conglomerate, propping up and supporting them, keeping them financially viable and producing.

This decision, by the two companies to merge their operations under their parent company Assa-Abloy Electronic Security Hardware, comes as no surprise to market players.

Assa-Abloy recently completed the acquisition of August, the startup company who produced a market leading residential security add-on, that converts an existing residential deadbolt lock into a bluetooth/WiFi controlled access control point, but (as it's unique selling point) without requiring a user to replace their existing deadbolt lock.

Market observers are keenly keeping eyes on Assa-Abloy to see which other companies (already under their umbrella) will be added to this new Assa-Abloy Electronic Security Hardware division.

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Delaware To Update School And Institution Security Hardware Requirements To Overhauled Policy

Classroom Security has been becoming an alarming and increasing issue across North America in recent years, with the increasing numbers of armed intruders causing havoc to junior elementary (sub-primary), elementary (primary), junior high school and senior high school campuses, as well as a number of higher education colleges and universities.

Intruders, often bullied former students or disgruntled staff members, are fast becoming a major thorn to the security of our children while they are at school.

Delaware State House of Representatives, this week is currently debating and voting on a major policy change and update, aimed at increasing significantly, the security hardware and protocols at all the states schools, colleges and universities.

Many schools across the USA, already use quality door lock systems to secure doors, but many of the existing measures have been found wanting in recent times. This has caused much angst by parents and teachers, concerned with offering quality education to our children in safe, secure environments.

There are a great many products across the wider marketplace that already offer significant strength and security, but too few schools are bothering to spend the necessary investments to protect their faculty, staff and pupils.

There are many different brands of lock systems that provide increased strength and design, to better protect our children, including double cylinder lever entrance sets (called Classroom Locksets), including but not limited to Yale, Corbin, Schlage, Arrow, Assa, Abloy and many others.

Essentially, "a double cylinder classroom lockset functions like almost any other lever or knob entry set, except that it uses an internal keyed cylinder to enable the locking of the outside handle, while ensuring the inside handle remains unlocked and still easy to escape through, if required (maintaining life safety and International Building Code policies and rules)."

Some schools and institutions are spending millions of dollars to increase the security of their classrooms and entrances, but often they neglect to ensure that doors and windows include bullet resistant glass or resistant window films. Many seem to believe that the quality lockset and an alarm system will provide enough security to prevent an armed intruder from wreaking havoc through their schools.

Delaware are debating the inclusion of alarm systems, bullet proof accessories and double-keyed locksets.

In our 35+ years of locksmithery across the world, we have installed many locksets to school entrances and classrooms to increase the security of these doors.

In one case many years ago, one school decided to install double cylinder deadbolts to every door, as recommended by their security analyst and architect, before consulting with professional locksmiths, who are deliberately trained in physical hardware that complies with life safety, building codes, insurance requirements to protect would-be users of these rooms.
Our company was asked to install according to the plan and completed the request, against our better judgement, while warning the school officials that their desire was not legal. One week prior to the opening of the new school term, state and local inspectors came in to certify the school for opening, but when they saw the double cylinder locks fitted to all doors, they immediately failed the school because they did not comply with building and life safety codes.
Our company was once again called in to rectify the issues with new "approved" products that met or exceeded the codes, adding significant cost to the project. Our company worked overtime to complete the task prior to the school opening on time.

This reinforces the point that involving your local trained professional locksmith can and will augment your bottom line costs and save you considerable angst and compliance issues down the road.

There are many professional locksmith companies across North America, that provide trained professionals with field experience that are able to provide best-case-scenario advice, that will help any organization to increase their physical and electronic security measures, without breaking the bank.


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Haven - New Application By Edward Snowden Suggests A Use For Your Retired Android Phone

Y'all may remember Edward Snowden, the former NSA employee who spilled the beans a few years ago about goings on at the NSA.

He has been busy recently developing all manner of things including this new application he calls Haven.

Haven is an application you may be able to store on your Android phone that can turn that phone into a security camera system for personal use.

There are not many intricate details released just yet, but essentially the application enables you to install a sensor and video/sound capture system on your used Android mobile phones, using the already built in camera, microphone, light sensors and messaging services to provide a sensible use for your used devices and get more life out of your used product.

Using a previous cellphone (mobile phone) or a "burner phone" often means that you could have a very inexpensive method of increasing your personal security without purchasing new hardware.

There are a few articles explaining about this new concoction of Snowden's and like him or not, he is considered by many to be on the cutting edge of security technology.

Check out the article in the source below for more details.

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