Archive for the 'Living With Security' Category

Keeping Your Important Documents Safe During Disasters

Sunday, September 21st, 2008

As victims of Hurricane Katrina and other recent disasters have found, when you have to function after a major disaster, being without your birth certificate, social security card or bank account numbers can be a huge problem.

But with this checklist, you’ll be able to make a completely accessible repository all of your vital documents and communications that you can use, whether you’re at home dealing with a medical emergency, or dealing with a major disaster and need your important documents to start over.

Let’s begin by gathering all of your important documents. Here are the types of documents you need to secure.

  • Bank account information (and PIN numbers, passwords and toll-free numbers)

  • Investment account information (and PIN numbers, passwords and toll-free numbers)
  • Medical records
  • Credit cards (copies of the card, account number, toll-free numbers and credit limit)
  • Income tax returns
  • Insurance policies
  • Stocks/bonds
  • Student identification
  • Wills
  • Living Wills
  • Power of Attorney
  • Power of Attorney for Healthcare Decisions
  • Driver’s licenses/ID/Medicare Card
  • Marriage certificates
  • Birth certificates
  • Auto registration
  • Citizenship papers
  • Death/burial certificates
  • Warranties
  • Family Immunization Records
  • Family Social Security cards/numbers
  • Property titles or deeds
  • Company Benefits
  • Contact information for your doctors, lawyer, accountant, broker etc

    Optional

  • Health and Medical Records
  • Safe Deposit Box Key
  • Photos/Videos of your possessions and registration numbers
  • Household Inventory

    Since you want to make sure you have what you need in an emergency, the idea is to put this information in places that will be accessible to you, even if you are unable to get inside your home.

    As a first-line of defense, make two copies of all of the information you gathered from the list above and put it in two secure locations. The first location is in a bank safe deposit box or water/fireproof safe in your own city. The second location is in a safe deposit box outside of your area or state. Many of the banks in the hurricane-ravaged areas ended up being as inaccessible to customers as their homes were.

    As secure as those locations are, hard copies can sustain damage even in a supposedly safe place. And with concerns about identity theft, you may also be wary about placing delicate information like identification and credit card numbers out of your sight.

    So how do you secure your vital documents while making them accessible? Simple. Just scan each document onto a CD or Flash Drive, then password protect it and store the data it in the locations mentioned above, either along with, or instead of the hard copies. While you’re at it, make an extra copy of the data and store it with your records at home. If an emergency strikes, first grab the kids and pets, then the CD/Flash Drive, and then Grandma’s silver! A few new services take security and accessibility a step further.

    With SmartDisasterPlan.com, you can have your own online personal vault, with SSL security that will not only give you up to two gigabytes of memory to store everything from vital documents to family photos, but you can access this information from any computer with Internet access. This could have made all the difference for Katrina victims or Tsunami victims who lost everything in minutes and found themselves in neighboring states/countries, badly in need of their most basic information. Smart Disaster Plan.com. Smart Disaster Plan.com has three different plans ranging from $15 to $39 per year. They’re just one company providing this type of online file system, and though we’ve never used their service, they seem terrific.

    If you have a video camera, you may also want to videotape a walking tour of your home, featuring the home and any pricier possessions you have. Not only does this show claims adjusters what you have and it’s present condition, but if you ever need to make a claim, it will jog your memory of what you have and what would need replacing.

    Want to know the biggest impediment to safeguarding all of the things you hold dear. Procrastination! Taking fifteen or twenty minutes today to take care of business, can save you days, months or even years of pain.

    You can find even more information about keeping your family, emergency information and vital documents safe in the Making Your Family Safe in 15 Minutes or Less, Action Plan. Download it free from our website at www.nokep.org today.

    Laura and Janet Greenwald, are the founders of The Next of Kin Education Project
    To download a free copy of these Emergency Tips or for more information go to: http://www.nokep.org/fmp.htm.

  • Home Security - Discuss Your Home’s Security With A Professsional Surveyor

    Friday, September 19th, 2008

    Security should be one of the most important considerations for your home. Why fill your home with your personal effects and decorate it if the home can be so easily burgled? It makes more sense to have a security system fitted that will deter intruders and send them elsewhere.

    This article is designed to give you an idea of the sort of intruder alarm protection you’ll need in a private house. It does not replace the advice of a professional Security Surveyor/System Designer from a reputable security installer. The article will give you a degree of understanding and help you to discuss your home’s security with a security professional.

    Christie Intruder Alarms (CIA) consider that the best way to protect residential property is by using trap protection. Trap protection is a strategy for protecting a property without fitting sensors in every room.

    Statistics show that villains rarely break in through windows at the front of a house. They are even less likely to stay in one room and leave through the same front window; they are more likely to go straight to the master bed room. So fitting sensors in the rear rooms of the house and in the hallway is often considered sufficient for the ground floor.

    Also as kitchens have heat sources (boilers, fridges, ovens, washing machines and such) and hard surfaces, they are generally considered unstable areas and rarely contain items of value. Therefore, as a rule, a kitchen should not be protected with PIR.

    Through our 35+ years of experience, we have learnt that even dual technology detectors are unsuitable for kitchens, as the microwave motion sensor will detect movement through glass, thin walls and will even be triggered by water moving in pipes.

    There are various reasons for adopting a trap protection strategy. The first is to limit the false alarm potential of a system and the more detectors a property has, the higher the false alarm potential. All detectors (even the top of the range ones that CIA use) sometimes false alarm. These false alarms are becoming increasingly onerous due to the new hard line that Police Forces are taking regarding attendance. False alarms result in withdrawn Police attendance.

    Another important factor is cost - using a good quality sensor would make it expensive to protect each room.

    As external alarm boxes are a good deterrent, just having an alarm system installed by a recognized intruder alarm installer should deter most villains, whether they are opportunists or professionals. After all, burglars don’t know whether or not your system is monitored by a central station who will alert the Police in the instance of an alarm - it’s easier for them to go next door or somewhere that doesn’t have an alarm system.

    Burglar Alarms

    Burglars, and indeed any intruders, are overwhelmingly deterred by a burglar alarm (or, as we say in the trade, an ‘intruder alarm’) more than any other form of home security. It is better to take preventative measures as opposed to the ’shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted’. You are far more likely to be burgled if you have been burgled before. Villains are renowned for returning to the same properties.

    Break-in’s are a unfortunate fact of life. Being broken into in a residential property is obviously more distressing than a burglary in the work place and although vandalism is rare, the loss of sentimental artefacts can be most upsetting.

    As the Number One security installer in the South of England, Christie Intruder Alarms (CIA) use a combination of detection devices. The most popular devices are the PIR (Passive Infra-Red) detectors, magnetic reed contacts, breaking glass detectors, infra-red beams, pressure pads, case wiring, vibration detectors and dual technology sensors (sensors that combine Passive Infra-Red with Microwave or Ultrasonic detection).

    Always choose a company that has been awarded the prestigious NSI NACOSS Gold Medal. The Gold Medal is only awarded to companies who consistently deliver an outstanding performance in security management.

    NSI is an acronym of the National Security Inspectorate. Formerly known as NACOSS, the NSI is an independent, not-for-profit approvals body providing inspection services for the security and fire industries.

    Monitoring - Alarm Receiving

    For complete peace of mind, many people choose to have their intruder alarms monitored. If an alarm is monitored, then, when it detects an intruder it automatically sends a signal via the phone line and/or cellular network to an ARC (Alarm Receiving Centre - these used to be referred to as Central Stations or Monitoring Stations) and the appropriate action is taken. CIA uses Southern Monitoring Services (SMS) Ltd - http://www.smon.co.uk.

    New Police/Constabulary Service guidelines (the ACPO Policy on Response to Security - ACPO are the Association of Chief Police Officers of England, Wales and Northern Ireland) state that the Police will now only attend monitored alarms that confirm alarm activations (unless installed pre October 2002).

    Confirmation is received when a second detection device is triggered during the same intrusion; therefore, something is definitely on site and moving around.

    On receiving the first activation, the ARC will notify a keyholder but if a second detection device is triggered in the same activation, this confirms to the ARC that ’something’ is definitely on site and moving around, and the Police are instantly alerted.

    If an intruder is detected, a signal is sent from the alarm system using either a standard digital communicator, BT RedCare, BT RedCare GSM or CSL DualComm, via the phone line and/or a cellular network.

    A standard digital communicator works by sending signals via the ordinary analogue telephone network, as does BT RedCare, however, with RedCare the ARC are alerted if the phone line fails, either through attack or a genuine line fault, as the line is constantly monitored.

    BT RedCare GSM and CSL DualComm send alarm activations via the phone line and a cellular network to for increased security. These forms of signalling are ideal if your insurance company requires your alarm to transmit ‘confirmation’ signals after a line cut.

    Your home is your greatest asset. Why leave it vulnerable when it clearly pays to have your house protected by security professionals.

    Christie Intruder Alarms (CIA) Ltd headquarters are in Waterlooville, Portsmouth, Hampshire.
    We Install and Service anything you will ever need to protect your home and your business, including;
    Intruder Alarms, Fire Alarms, CCTV, Access Control, Locks, Safes, Fire Extinguishers and Fire Extinguishing Systems (Gaseous or water), Ram-raid and car park barriers, bar and grilles and all manners of Physical Security.
    Visit our website at http://www.ciaalarms.co.uk

    Be An Effective Mobile Phone Spy

    Thursday, September 18th, 2008

    There are many ways to listen for important information that you can use in the future. Because most people own mobile phones, and because they are on the rise as a primary phone, it can be worth your while to learn to be a mobile phone spy. Private investigators and bounty hunters can use the techniques of a mobile phone spy in order to learn information for their clients and gather evidence. People can be quite unguarded while speaking on a cell phone; it can be the perfect way to hone your spying skills.

    The effective mobile phone spy has the right equipment. Luckily, it is usually easier to get the right spy equipment in the cell phone department than it is in many other ways. Additionally, cell phone spy equipment is often less expensive than other equipment. If you are just getting your PI or bounty hunter business off the ground, starting out with some good cell phone bugging devices is a good way to start. It will help you get your feet wet and prove to clients that you have good equipment.

    Another thing needed is to ensure that you do not miss important phone calls. For many a mobile phone spy, this ties right into having the right equipment. There are two different cell phone bugs that call you when a phone call is made. The Spy Matrix Cell Phone will give you a rig whenever a call is made, allowing you to listen in on the conversation without constantly checking to see if a call is being made. Likewise, basic cell phone bugs that share with the home phone can also call you whenever the phone line becomes active. This allows you to do more than one thing while waiting for the call.

    Finally, the effective mobile phone spy has a means of recording the conversations she or he hears. This can be recording equipment attached to your end of the device, or it can be transmitted to a recording assembly (if you are using a phone that picks up signals near someone using a cell phone). It is always good to have the conversations available as evidence when you are a mobile phone spy.

    (c) 2005 Copyright www.spyassociates.com. This article is about: Mobile Phone Spy