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Category: Locksport

Why Time Is Of The Essence In Security Matters

Keeping your home safe is the priority of every homeowner. However, when it comes to safety, you need to understand what you are up against. A lot of households use deterrents such as stickers warning against the dog or the CCTV camera. Do these work in the long term? Inexperienced burglars may be fooled by the presence of a warning sticker, even if you have no guard dog or security camera. However, seasoned criminals take their time to observe and understand your routines. You can bet that they will soon find out about your imaginary dog and learn to ignore the warning notes. 

Real security systems and tips are essential to protect your loved ones and your belongings. The average burglar needs less than a minute to find access to your home. It takes about 10 minutes for them to get in, find your valuables, and exit the house. Therefore, you need to make time a priority.

Real-time CCTV & sensor

It’s a no-brainer. If you’re going to keep burglars away, you need a real CCTV system. Stickers warning about the imaginary security camera are unlikely to deter anyone for long. There are many types of CCTV systems. But experts recommend a solution that can in real-time monitor sensors and make all data — sensor-related and visual information — accessible to the relevant authorities and users. Some security systems can struggle with real-time information transmission; that’s precisely why you want to invest in a CCTV solution with a MicroATX motherboard — a clever piece of tech that enables data transfer and reading at the time of happening. Paired with sensors, you can make sure you know about suspicious broken glass or motion in and around the house when you’re away. 

Picking a lock is a sport

You may not realize it, but most burglars can follow existing tutorials to learn their lock-picking skills. Indeed, locksport is a real activity that consists in picking a lock in the shortest amount of time. For professional lock manufacturers, it can be an insightful activity, revealing the weaknesses of their products and providing improvement tips. However, it also means that burglars can find access to lock-picking information too. It’s no wonder they need under 60 seconds to get inside your home! 

Would a smart lock stop unwanted intruders? Smart locks are tricky to disable mechanically, unlike traditional locks. A burglar would need to hack into your lock using computing knowledge, which can take longer. 

Make no mistakes

More often than not, a burglar doesn’t even need special skills to find their way into your home. Many former criminals warn homeowners against the risks of leaving their garage unlocked. Additionally, your backyard can become the perfect starting place. Families that choose to leave the backdoor open so the pets can come and go freely in and outside the garden could expose themselves to high risks. Lock all your doors and windows; you’d be surprised how quickly someone can gain access to your property then. 

Burglars are fast. They understand that they only have a limited time to get in and out of properties. As a result, the more time-consuming you make it for them to break in, the less likely they are to target your home.

“Smart” Door Lock Drilled Open in 4 Seconds

The most striking (you locksmiths will get that joke) thing about this is that an expensive “smart” lock was made with little to no physical security features in mind. I like how the article points out the difficulty of physically compromising a good-ole-fashioned steel, “dumb” mortise lock.

Is it true that “smart” lock manufacturers are forgetting about physical security when designing locks? Isn’t that the point of a lock?

Picking a Master Lock M5 Magnum

As you may or may not know, I was a locksmith for the better part of a decade, working on campus at Warren Wilson College as a student, learning the trade as I earned my BA in psychology, then being hired to work there and train other students after I graduated for about 4 years. I also ran my own business (Chatham’s Lock & Key) for about two years, and I did a stint at Willis Klein up in Louisville for a summer.

So it was interesting to me that once I started attending information security conferences, I saw how popular lock picking has become among that otherwise computer-based hacking crowd. They have “lock picking villages” where you can learn to pick locks, contests to pit your skills against others, and there are now loads of videos and tutorials online for “locksport” enthusiasts.

I was resistant to get into “locksport” for a while, perhaps because I had “been there, done that,” but also because the phrase “locksport” annoyed me.

However, I lost that battle when I found my old lock pick set from back in the day, and then found myself working a Master lock I had in the garage. Check out my first contribution to the Locksport community in this video.

Stay tuned for more.