Monitored Alarm Systems - A Fallacy

Monitored Alarm Systems are not Security Protection Devices.

I regularly discuss the above statement with many customers. Usually I am asked if I sell and Install electronic alarm security systems, to which I reply that the statement is an oxymoron.

An alarm system is not and can not be a security system because it does not perform or provide any protection. It can only inform that a condition exists.

Pictured above is a typical advertisement implying that alarm systems that are monitored provide protection for homes.

THIS IS SIMPLY UNTRUE

One of the largest companies in the world, regularly sells their products by trying to convince consumers of the competitive advantage of their monitored alarm systems.

The average cost of a monitored alarm system, often ranges from $30 - $60 per month. This is the raw cost to have a manned 24 hour monitoring centre "watching" your property.

What many companies, similar to the one above fail to inform the client, is the hidden costs associated with monitored alarm systems.

Police or emergency service attendance is often an extra cost borne by the homeowner, that monitoring companies often fail to disclose.

If your property suffers a false alarm and police attend to find no signs of forced or illegal entry, YOU WILL BE BILLED for their time and attendance.

If the monitoring company detects a fire alarm at your property, usually the fire department will be informed immediately and fire trucks will be dispatched. If the alarm condition is false, YOU WILL BE BILLED anyway, for fire department attendance.

If regular false alarms occur, this could become a significantly costly exercise.

Many burglars know the tricks to fool alarm systems. One example is, a burglar gains entry to your automatic roller garage door, closing it behind them. Your alarm system sounds, triggering the monitoring company. Police attend within the average time of 10 minutes. Police find no sign of forced entry and are not allowed to attempt to or enter your premises without a warrant.

Meanwhile, the burglar/s are waiting inside the garage for the police to leave, after determining the alarm was false.

The burglar now has as much time as they need to perform their theft, free from getting caught, while the home owner suffers the loss of their property and the added financial burden of emergency services invoices. The home insurance refuses to pay on a claim, because the police report at the time declares a false alarm.

The only beneficary of this whole episode, is the burglar, who made it off with your property.

Crime Statistics Maryland Heights 7/13/09-8/13/09

The current crime statistics for Maryland Heights area July-August 2009 are listed below.

Assault - 10

Break & Enter - 4

Homicide - 1

Sexual Offence - 6

Theft - 68

Theft From Vehicle - 4

Vehicle Theft - 5

To improve your security protection call us today.

314-266-1533

Securichain by Securicraft

Remember the old door chain we used to have on our entry doors to allow the door to open 2 inches so you can see/talk to the person knocking on your door?

Assa-Abloy Asia Pacific, owners of Lockwood Australia, produce this modern take on the simple door chain.

The Securichain is designed to be mortised into the door, similarly to a cylindrical deadbolt. It provides a flush, neat fit with an easy to release strike/keeper. I think this fashionable design will also work incredibly well as a child safety device, where if it is fitted higher on a door, small children, whose tendencies are to open doors regularly when adults are not looking, to run outside to play, would be unable to get out, yet the adult could easily open the door.

What do you think?

Lockwood 005 Paradigm

Assa-Abloy Asia-Pacific recently released their new residential/architectural deadbolt. The 005 Paradigm, sees a shift toward more safety concious locking products.

This deadbolt combines the benefits of double cylinder locking mechanisms with the primary entrance stipulation of the International Building Code, whereby all primary entrances require to be panic release mode in case of an emergency.

As you can see in the picture, the inside turnbutton has a key hole and an indicator as well. This is designed to give a person inside immediate knowledge whether the lock is "deadlocked" or not.

In some parts of the world, the insurance company definition of "deadlock" is "any lock that is able to be operated by a key from both sides of a door.

The Paradigm cylindrical deadbolt with LockAlert status indicator, SafetyRelease and DualSelect locking is suitable for residential and architectural applications.

Features

• Multi-Mode Slimline Deadbolt providing safety, security and convenience
• Safety features include SafetyRelease to reduce the possibility of being locked in
• High Strength Counterbalance Bolt
• High Security cut Resistant Stainless Steel Bolt
• Adjustable 60 mm - 70 mm bolt
• Box strike with concealed cross grain door frame strengthening screw
• Fits standard door preparation - 54mm diameter cross bore hole

CLIQ Electronic High-Security Locks Easily Defeated at DefCon

Breaking News

Notorious and reknowned lock pickers Mark Tobias, Toby Bluzmanis and Matt Fiddler, have demonstrated techniques to easily defeat the supposedly un-defeatable CLIQ products being manufactured by the world leading High-Security lock manufacturing company Assa-Abloy.

From Wired.com, "The hacks are low-tech and don’t involve attacking the actual electronic component of the lock. Instead, they use standard techniques for opening mechanical locks, similar to bumping — where an attacker places a specially-designed key in the keyway and “bumps” it repeatedly with a device until the lock releases."

“These [locks] are used in some high-security facilities,” Tobias said. “And the makers tout the fact that this is the ultimate in security. And they shouldn’t be saying that.

The locks cost between $600 and $800 apiece, with keys costing about $95 each.

They’re used in government buildings, banks, and critical infrastructures, such as power and water plants and transportation facilities. The Swiss Federal Railway System uses them as does the Ottawa International Airport in Canada.

The locks use what’s called CLIQ technology, developed by top Swedish lock maker Assa Abloy, and its Germany-based subsidiary Ikon. The locks were first made in 2002 by Assa Abloy, but the same core technology is now used all over the world in electronic high-security locks made by other Assa Abloy subsidiaries, such as Medeco, Mul-T-Lock and Ikon."

"According to an Assa Abloy marketing video, the combination of electronic and mechanical offers “a double layer of impenetrable security.”

But the researchers found that none of the technology’s ultra-high-security features — digital ID, encrypted communication, or audit log — matter."

“[CLIQ] is a very sophisticated system,” Tobias says. “Mechanically it’s terrific. Electronically it’s terrific. But from the security engineering standpoint, our opinion is it’s not competent. If you can circumvent accountability, you have a major problem.”

The lock makers say they can’t respond to the issues Tobias is raising until he tells them exactly how his attacks work. But before he’s willing to give them the details, Tobias has insisted the makers agree to fix the vulnerable locks retroactively with no cost to customers who have already purchased them. Something they refuse."

"Bluzmanis demonstrated an attack by taking an Interactive CLIQ electro-mechanical lock made by Mul-T-Lock and inserting a mechanical-only key cut to the same keyway. After inserting the key, he does something to vibrate the key for a few seconds until the mechanical motor in the cylinder turns and lifts the locking element to release the lock."

“There’s no audit trail that the lock has been opened,” Tobias says, “because there are no electronics [involved]. If the attacker entered the room to steal documents or sabotage the facility, the last person who entered before him and who showed up in the audit log, would presumably get the blame."

" When electro-mechanical keys are lost, administrators don’t rekey the locks, they simply reprogram the system to reject any key with that unique ID. But a thief could remove the key’s battery and convert it to a mechanical key. Without the battery, the cylinder wouldn’t know a key has been inserted; the thief could then vibrate the lock to open it."

"Once the lock is opened, it will remain unlocked until a valid electro-mechanical key is inserted. Until then, even an electro-mechanical key deprogrammed to work with the lock — because an employee left the company or the key was lost or stolen — will work. Because the de-programmed key has a battery, the chip in the cylinder will log it as an “access denied” event, but the person holding the key will still be able to open the door."

(source...) Special Thanks to Harry Liebman of CandyTorahs.com for pointing to this article.

Narrow Stile Key Locked Patio/Pocket Door Lock

Pictured here is a product we are now stocking, that enables a patio sliding door lock to be replaced with a key entry model.

It is designed to be a flush mount, meaning that the handles are fitted into the body of the door frame, which also makes them very suitable for pocket doors.

This beautiful and simple design is fundamentally different to many other similar type products because the actual latch only requires a small hole in the door edge for installation.

There are very few key lockable patio/pocket door locks available at such a competitive list price.

Installation of these locks often requires some patch work necessary to fill the holes in the PVC door frame. We use a very special product especially designed to repair virtually any PVC frame or pipe. It is designed to fill the existing hole/s simply and matchable to virtually any color.

The list price on this lock is $29.99 but it can be found even cheaper if you search in depth online.

Pocket Door Lock/Patio Door Lock with key, now available here today.

UPDATE 08/06/09

This product is designed for maximum 1-1/4" thick doors. I know this from first hand experience and not reading the instructions properly.

Chubb M3 (Medeco) Lock Bumped open

This example is from over 1 year ago online by a professional locksmith in the United Kingdom.

Chubb have an overseas license to the Medeco M3 lock system and market it complete with the Chubb name embossed on the product.

Medeco technology is requested by many US companies attempting to maintain some uniformity across their properties, however as this video plainly shows, the Medeco product is NOT BUMP PROOF.

I must repeat that the original and first bump proof pin tumbler lock cylinder product on the market is the Bilock Extreme Security mechanism. With Bilock, you can guarantee that duplicate keys cannot be produced and that bump keys WILL NOT WORK. Bilock locks were first manufactured in Australia in the early 1970's. The product is found in 132 countries around the world and is favored by casinos, banks and government institutions to protect property.

Never Get Lost Again

How often have you travelled to a different town or country, parked your rental car in a multi-level carpark, returned but have forgotten where you parked the car?

How often have you been to an unfamiliar place only to have your bearings all turned around?

Maybe you travel overseas, stay in hotels but forget which corner your hotel is on.

Here is a novel product that can assist you with not having to remember all the gory details. Simply activate the GPS, lock in your current position, go on your way and use it's locator function to return you to home.

Certainly a novel idea.

My primary concern with an item of this kind is that potentially you give a potential thief, your exact location of your property. They will have your key and your property location. Is that smart?

(source...)