Future of Security and Personal Privacy
Bill Neff, CPP, PSP, CML Speaks to Lancaster, Pennsylvania TEA Party Sponsored Campaign For Liberty On April 15, 2009
It has been said that in desperate times, desperate people do desperate things and unfortunately some people’s desperate measures have a negative effect on other law biding people.
Today I’m speaking about the future of Security and Personal Privacy but first we need to understand a few basic concepts of security. Security is like terrorism-- there is no uniform definition. In fact one dictionary states that security is a state of being free from danger or injury. From my perspective the first part of this definition, “the state of being free” is not only incorrect, it is a setup for failure. That mindset leaves you with the impression that security is a passive endeavor that can be attained by remote control. However, that kind of complacency will always lead, not to security, but to demise.
We also need to be clear about the terms used to describe security, starting with the fact that there is no “proof”! You know like “pick proof”, burglar proof or “fire proof”. In reality is there is no “absolute” security. Proof may exist in whiskey and absolute in Vodka however in security you must set up your firewalls to mitigate your risk against danger and injury.
In the world of security there are three critical “double-p’s”--the proper people, the proper products and the proper protocols in order to hopefully bring about optimum results in mitigating losses. In Security Management you have formulas and tools to make analysis and calculate loss expectancies, but like the stock market it’s not an exact science.
Security is a journey not a destination. In other words it’s dynamic and forever changing mainly due to the new conflicts and crisis’ that we face in this constantly changing world.
I remember growing up in the 60’s living in the 7th Ward of Lancaster my family didn’t lock our doors until after April 4th, 1968—the day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot.
Despite advance warnings and calls to proactively take precautions, our country ignored the threat of impending attacks that could take place on American by terrorists. The result was September 11th, 2001. Just think. If the cockpit doors of those planes had been secured our country wouldn’t been in the financial crisis it is today. Such a simple fix—such devastating ramifications.
Here is what I don’t understand The United States grounded all 6000 commercial planes for approximately 48 hours after 911 then turned around and put them back in the air without securing those very cock pit doors. Barely a month later I, was on American Flight 1238 coming from LA to Chicago and a mentally ill man charged the cockpit door managing to get inside. In the meantime there was a solution, a temporary fix, to secure the cockpit doors with $5.10 in parts with a maximum of 10 minutes in labor for each aircraft. In Security you have layers and the first layer is common sense. To me, 911 is an excellent example of common sense being overlooked.
I realize that the security challenges we face are bigger then myself and all of you and they won’t be solved in the span of this short talk. However, in the remaining minutes, I’d like to share with you emerging security challenges and trends. Hopefully, I can help make you aware of how you can make some changes that can assist you in safeguarding your safety and security.
Our homes and automobiles are near and dear to us and are the most common assets we seek to protect. Modern technology has greatly enhanced our ability to do that. Unfortunately technology is like the proverbial double edged sword—it can both help and hurt us at the same time.
One of those double-edged technologies is the Internet. When I first ventured on the super highway in Jan 1, 1995 I was shocked at how much information was already on the Internet about lock picking. One of the most widely accessed documents at that time was, and still today, “The MIT Guide to Lock Picking”.
Currently on the Internet, there are about 161,000 articles and over 800 videos on lock picking alone. Truth be told, in the USA the least secure aspect of our homes today are their locks.
Home Security
99.9% of our countries homes are secured with a technology that was first used in Egypt 4000 years ago. Linus Yale Sr. took that concept and invented the pin tumbler lock in 1848. In 1861his son Linus Yale Jr. made some improvements and patented the pin tumbler lock which is still the basis of lock technology today.
What is more alarming however, is that the old locksmith trick called “key rapping” or “bumping” is now common knowledge to the masses. Thanks to the news media and information now accessible on the web such as YouTube Videos common pin tumbler locks could soon be obsolete. What I’m about to demonstrate will show you just how weak the standard pin tumbler lock is.
Solutions perhaps convert cylinders to 6 pin or procure high security cylinders. Cylinders that bear the UL437 High Security Rating
Some common sense measures you can take to protect your home and your family are:
Key Control “ Do you know where all your keys are ? If not did you change your locks?
Are your keys in plain view? If so be careful! Professionals can take pictures of your keys with picture phones and then reproduce a key from a digital picture. It’s a much easier process that you realize.
Remove all numbers on original keys. Those numbers usually display the direct digit of the cuts of the key which again is information that can easily be used to reproduce a working key.
Master key locks are less secure then a non master pin lock. It has been stated that Master Keying is the “controlled destruction of security”. Every time you add a master pin to a lock you double the key combinations to that lock. For example in a commercial six pin lock with a master pin in every chamber you automatically have 64 possible keys that will open that lock. Master Keying is for convenience NOT for security. It makes lock picking a breeze.
While alarm systems are touted as a way to ensure that your home is completely safe, alarm systems do not protect they only detect. The average response time nationally from the time the alarm goes off until law enforcement arrives at the door is about 8 minutes. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have an alarm system, but you should understand that it does not guarantee full protection.
Two things that burglars do not like are lights and noise. One suggestion is to get inexpensive outdoor lights installed that are motion activated. Another is to have a dog that only barks when an intruder is near by. Schools are available where you can send your pet for the proper training, although that can get expensive.
One creative way to guard your home is to start by Googleing “Electronic Watch Dog”. This device which operates off of microwave technology can detect motion through non-metallic doors or walls. It has both a range selector and volume control. When an intruder comes close to the detector the system goes into a barking frenzy getting increasingly louder. The system uses an authentic recording of a Doberman Pincher.
I had one of these and tried it out on a German Sheppard. The dog immediately cringed and cowered. Of course if you select this option you should also procure Beware of Dog signs and other accessories to give the appearance that you actually have a dog.
The use of video camera’s continues to rise in popularity. Previously known as Closed Circuit Television or CCTV, today they are becoming more open then closed. Many are now wireless and broadcast via internet. And like Europe they are more commonly being installed in public places like street corners, bridges and highways. So if you are in public, privacy is becoming less of an option.
Last week the news continuously ran footage of a lady who caught burglars ransacking her home as she viewed it via internet from her work place. This is another new trend-- instead of paying monthly alarm monitoring fees you can opt out and use the internet.
Since many homes have high speed internet the homeowner can install do it yourself wireless cameras that can record to your home computer or DVR. It also has an option to send an e-mail to your cell phone and can be viewed live as the incident is happening via the internet using a remote computer or a mobile phone from anywhere in the world.
Some important video do’s & don’ts. You can do anything you want with video in your own home, however Pennsylvania has very strict surveillance and wire taping laws. In your place of business you can only record video not audio provided the camera’s are in plain view. Additionally you can not record video or audio in a covert mode YOU MUST LET THE TARGETED SUBJECTS KNOW THAT YOU ARE RECORDING THEM. If not you have violated their privacy rights and could face stiff penalties.
One more point about video and its use as evidence in most courts of law. In order to use it to positively ID a suspect you need to have the video date stamped with an image of the suspects face with a size no less then ½ of the video frame.
Automotive Security
If you own an automobile that is 1997 or later you might have a key that has a chip in it. The chip is a RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) also known as a transponder.
The are several different types of these transponders from fixed, encrypted or rolling code which means it’s more costly to replace if you lose your keys. Some Auto Transponder Keys can be cloned which means you can transfer the electronic signal onto another blank electronic key. Other types like rolling code type you can not clone, but here is the really spooky part. On some of the transponder keys it logs when you last drove the car, records mileage and how fast you went and on some even newer models it records your latitude and longitude coordinates. Since transponders were introduced to those models, vehicle theft has decreased.
Two week ends ago I was in London attending an automotive security seminar and I learned that the new trend in some European countries is that local law enforcement is no longer investigating auto theft. With our economy the way it is, and the ever increasing costs of maintaining law enforcement this trend could come to the USA very shortly.
Personal Security
Some basic common sense can be valuable here. Social networking sites like Face Book and personal blogs can come back to haunt you. Be careful what you post and make sure to choose your friends wisely or you could be under scrutiny that you didn’t wish for. These types of websites are commonly used to make law enforcement investigations easier. Remember you have a right to express yourself but when posting on the internet, you just waived your right to privacy.
Many people come into our shop and try to play our business against what they perceive as our competitors like “Wizard Lock & Safe” and “Russell Locksmiths & Safesmiths”, both of whom are upstanding businesses in Lancaster. First and foremost they are not my competitors but my colleagues. Ours is a community where we work well together and help each other. We are united.
Just like the locksmithing community each of you needs to build a support structure around you to help make you safe because “united we stand divided we fall”. Perhaps our government agencies should take an example from the locksmithing community and unite to make a safer and more secure environment for us all.
In closing, I’d like to say that the world around us is forever changing and we all must be continually conscious of our environment. It’s important to be proactive not reactive, taking the appropriate actions to meet the challenges at hand. In other words like Big Bob Bertzfield my old math teacher at Edward Hand said “Sink or Swim Live or Die!”
Thank you and God Bless.
Sincerely,
Bill Neff, CPP, PSP, CML
President & CEO
Keystone Access