Scammers call as a grandchild with a bad crackly phone connection in another country on vacation hoping the victim will believe they are their grandchild who needs to get bailed out of jail. Other scammers call informing the victim they won the sweepstakes or lottery and only need them to pay… Read full post »

It’s as hard for me to write this as it is for you to read this. In one of the worst publically known home invasions of the 21st century one defendant has received the death penalty while the other is facing the same fate. Joshua Komisarjevsky, confessed to the attack on the home… Read full post »

Frightening Statistics:

1 of every 5 homes will experience a break-in or violent home invasion.

80% of break-ins occur forcibly through a locked door.

A burglary occurs every 15 seconds in the United States.

This is why installing multiple layers of protection including a home security alarm, door… Read full post »

In a recent post I discussed 5 different kinds of door reinforcement devices. In this post I’m going to review a door frame reinforcement device by Door Devil. I reached out to other manufacturers of door frame reinforcement and only Nick Fairless from Door Devil was kind enough to respond and… Read full post »

Five or ten years ago, it was relatively easy for scammers to trick people into opening email attachments that would launch malicious programs on victims’ PCs. Nowadays, most email providers won’t permit .exe attachments, so viruses may be saved as compressed files, or hidden behind links that ap… Read full post »

It seems that almost every site on the web requires a password. At least twice a week, I get an email from someone who wants me to join yet another network, which requires yet another username and password. You can cop out and use the same username and password combination, but… Read full post »

Over the past 15 years, we have watched hackers’ evolution from “phreaking†phone systems, to hacking government agencies like NASA, and eventually creating viruses that take down networks. In the beginning, their primary motivations were fun, fame, and amusement. Over the past ten years, the g… Read full post »

This question often comes up in my seminars “How can I completely burglar proof my home?†And the answer is tricky. There is no such thing as 100 percent security which “burglar proofing†suggests.

However burglar proofing can conceivably be achieved if you consider that most burglars don  Read full post »

Consumers, businesses, retailers, and even the media are becoming numb to news about data breaches. Not a week goes by when we don’t hear of another major breach affecting thousands or even millions of customer accounts.

Criminal hackers are getting smarter and savvier all the time, and they often… Read full post »

“Free†is one of my favorite words  so when I have the option to get something for free, I will allocate a reasonable amount of time figuring out how I can apply that to my life before I determine if I should adopt it, or if it’s worth the extra few… Read full post »

In 2005, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council stated:

“The agencies consider single-factor authentication, as the only control mechanism, to be inadequate for high-risk transactions involving access to customer information or the movement of funds to other parties. Account fraud a… Read full post »

If you use Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo, you know your email is accessible from any computer or smartphone. That’s because your messages are stored “in the cloud.â€

What is iCloud? Apple puts it like this: “iCloud stores your music, photos, apps, calendars, documents, and more. And wirelessly pushe… Read full post »

Big companies and big government get big press when their data is breached. And when a big company is hit, those whose accounts have been compromised are often notified. With smaller businesses, however, victims are often left in the dark, regardless of the various state laws requiring notification.… Read full post »

Your house isn’t going to catch on fire, right? Well, you hope not, so maybe you even fool yourself into believing it can’t happen. But I’ll bet you have fire insurance, and maybe a collapsible escape ladder, and a fire extinguisher or two. I have all this, and I also back… Read full post »

People steal. Therefore, safes exist. There has always been a need for a place to hide, store, and lock away valuables in order to protect them from thieves.

Hundreds or even thousands of years ago, safes were constructed from materials such as wood, granite, cement, brick, and even clay. Today, safe… Read full post »

You may have noticed that over the last decade, computers have grown faster and more powerful, with more RAM, bigger hard drives, and improved processors. This is made possible by the development of better, cheaper technology, coupled with a corresponding need on the part of consumers and corporation… Read full post »

Without question, 2011 is the year for hackers of all kinds to get their 15 minutes of fame. But it feels like it’s lasting a lot longer than 15 minutes. With so many different breeds of hackers, each with their own agenda and an endless supply of potential targets, the media… Read full post »

If someone asked me to go “gold farming,†I’d probably assume we were going to grab a couple pans and head north to a stream in New Hampshire, and with any luck, strike it rich.

But gold farming doesn’t refer to literal gold. Rather, gold farmers accumulate virtual currency by playing… Read full post »

Is your data in the cloud? Right now as we speak billions are being invested my major corporations to store and back up data in the cloud. It’s cheaper and it’s safer.

When you think of a cloud, do you picture fluffy white pillow-things that float in the sky without a… Read full post »

By green, I mean what you might call your cashola, mula, peso, mark, deniro, bread…or just money.

I have a few, possibly contradictory philosophies about protecting one’s money. But hear me out.

First and foremost, never, ever fight a burglar, mugger, robber or home invader over money. If some wh… Read full post »

The last thing anyone ever wants to think about is your child getting taken away from you by a stranger or even someone you know. And while the statistics aren’t nearly are bad as one would think, parents think about child abduction all the time.

Regardless of statistical probabilities, there is… Read full post »

From childhood on, throughout life we develop relationships starting with your neighbors, classmates and eventually through work and of course through friends of friends. In high school I met this kid through my girlfriend’s girlfriend. He was a talented kid with lots of potential. I’m not using… Read full post »

I don’t see any signage saying “Home Security Systemâ€, and your front door is mostly glass and you sometimes leave the doors unlocked for bike rides.

I see you go to bed around 10 to 10:30. Most of your lights are off by nine. You rarely pull the shades down. You… Read full post »

When you think “prison camp,†you probably don’t picture a place resembling summer camp, with arts and crafts, hiking, swimming, and playing games. But in the Jixi prisoner labor camp in the coalmines of northeast China, they break rocks all day and play games at night.

Online games ofte… Read full post »

In Nashville where smoked ribs, country music and 68 year old grandmothers sleep with shotguns, a take no prisoners Nana picked off two home invaders breaking in as she slept. She was quoted saying “Never in my whole life have I ever harmed anything or anybody, but I’ve never been put… Read full post »