Hi everyone. Recently moved house so it's just me and the better half. Ground floor flat, seemingly decent enough area, however after our first night, police knocked at the door asking us if we had heard anything from a break in across the back garden. (2 sets of flats share the same back garden space) Now I remember the guy having a guitar in his back window and thinking "haha, lucky that's not in your front window mate or that'll be gone in a heartbeat!" Bare in mind this is a back window, so these guys must have hopped the 8ft fence or came through one of the closes. It could have been an opportunistic thief, a person they knew, or someone who had been staking the place out. Whichever way it went down, I'm not gonna find out! What is the most effective preventative measures I can take to deter anyone from even trying to smash a window as well as breaking and entering in general?The house has an alarm but I have a cat. Who likes to jump EVERYWHERE so even covering the sensors at the bottom doesn't seem to make a difference! I thought about getting some sort of sensor to go on the windows that go off if anyone breaks the glass or tampers with them. Just not sure what to go with there, alarms aren't my speciality. I don't think anyone is going to come in the front door, besides it's got 3 locks so I'm not worried about that. I'm also thinking about IP cams to alert to motion but I don't have the money for them at the moment. Other than this, I'm actually most worried about personal data being stolen. What's the best way to prepare for this? I've got passwords on my systems but nothing deeper than that. No encryption. I've got a few TB of data on my big computer which is probably a bit big and heavy for anyone to stroll down the street with but you never know! the laptops etc. however are easily lifted. In the long term I want to put most of our data in the cupboard (maybe somehow screwing it in place?) in the bedroom and pop a lock on that for another layer of physical security.
Don't let what happened put you off where you've moved to. Some of the nicest places are the most prone to burglary, for obvious reasons. In terms of your data, get it all into online storage as backup. A few TB will cost a bit but if it's important then it's worth it. In terms of your own peace of mind, computers aren't often the target of burglars. They're heavy and bulky, and don't often sell on well on the 'black market'. What alarm do you have? In terms of your house safety: 1. If your alarm has proximity arming then you can have it on at night and it will only go off if the door switches or window tampers break. Glass smash detectors are a bit overrated, I've never seen them be particularly effective. I went to a burglary once where they had one in the same room that the burglars smashed through a double glazed patio door and it didn't even go off. If it doesn't you can always disable the PIR zones at night and full arm it, that way it will be the same as proximity arming. 2. Consider animal friendly PIR's for your alarm, they do work. 3. Security lights are a brilliant deterrent. 4. Plastic anti-climb spikes on the fence work well. They're proper sharp. 5. Don't be complacent with burglary just happening at night. Day time breaks are just as common. Even if you're just popping out to the shop make sure your doors and windows are closed. It takes 30 seconds for someone to climb in and grab what they want. 5. Obvious things like not leaving valuables on show, leave a downstairs light on at night, and so on. Fancy alarm systems can even work with your lighting to randomly turn lights on and off to make it look like you're awake.
Few things : Like previously mentioned don't leave valuables on show, so maybe blinds or some sort of net type curtains that make it difficult to see in. Get a security light that turns on if the rear of the house / flat is approached Fit window locks if you don't already have them and don't leave windows open whenever you go out. May be a bit difficult but a dog is a very good deterrent, you may be able to get a younger dog that the cat will grow up with so no issues fighting. You could possibly get a battery powered PIR alarm, put it in the back room and keep cat out of said room when you go out and arm it. You can buy fake alarm boxes, just the box with nothing in it, put it up where it would normally go if the upstairs flat owner is happy enough to allow it.
Security systems: One thing that works in my area and makes burglars think twice is by making it obvious we have alarm systems in the house, simply by putting up some dummy sensors around the exterior in visible locations. Even if you didn't have any alarms, it's could be a good idea to put up some sensors that are easy to spot as anyone looking to burgle the property won't be able to tell if they're connected or not and it'll deter most but not the really dedicated thief. Don't go overkill on dummy sensors though, if you put up too many then people are going to think that you have something highly valuable inside that might be worth the risk. Motion activated lights are a good shout, you can get excellent ones that are rarely triggered by animals. Personal Info: Anyone local who is thinking of doing a bit of identity theft is more likely to be after any paper documents that you throw out rather than data off the computer, so my advice on that bit would be to either get a decent shredder... or even better get yourself a little garden incinerator. If you're concerned about the security of your data and don't want to spend any money, one option would be to split the partition on one of your drives and create a new encrypted & hidden partition for sensitive data. That said, I'd consider keeping any critical data from the computer on something like an encrypted NAS in a secure cupboard with a lock.
Fishlock: 1. I'm not sure it does. I'm not really sure how it works. Still waiting on getting the code from the letting agency. There is a sensor in every room apart from the hallway and bathroom. So Bedroom 1, 2, lounge and kitchen - All of which have windows (tilt and turn) There is no sensors connected to the doors or windows. 2. Yeah we were gonna look into that. She's not a big cat she just likes to move around a lot haha! 3. AMAZING! Didn't even think of that! £15 or so, shove an energy saving bulb in and it'll cost almost nothing to run! So simple i didn't even consider that! 4. The fence is part of the joint garden so dunno how well that'll work but we have a bit near the back window. Might take a picture and put it up of how next door have protected themselves. Other half wouldn't have it though she'd have a fit! 5. Yeah I keep my laptop, iPad etc. under the bedside table beside me. Only thing of any value is going to be a TV which is going to be put on the wall in the living room. We have been leaving the spare room light on or hall light but we leave the bedroom door open so need to close the door in those rooms. Retro_Gamer: Yeah the blinds in the kitchen actually fell down (raw plugs came out) so waiting on that being fixed. Besides that window all the rest have blinds and curtains which is nice (some blinds don't tilt, we need that fixed but apparently that's not urgent so we'll see how long the letting agency takes to fix that) The windows have locks to completely lock, tilt only and tilt and turn and can only be opened from the inside (as far as i can tell!) We do close them when we go out and just leave the little air vents at the top open (other half loves the house to be aired out) Security light - so simple as above, I'll get on that one ASAP! Dog won't happen haha, but agreed, excellent deterrent. My cat actually tolerates dogs more than cats. She HATES cats. Loves humans. The room they are most likely to come in is the kitchen window. The back rooms are Bedroom 2 (Spare room) and Kitchen. Spare room has 2 smaller windows with 2 panels in each. So smashing one and fitting through would be a bit of a struggle. Kitchen however is a massive 1 piece. about 1.5m by 1m or so? So if anything they're gonna come in through that especially since it's not a bedroom so no one is gonna be sleeping in there. It's where we keep the cats food with her litter tray in the living room (enclosed one with odour stuff to keep any smell away and also odour absorbing litter - not that it matters since if we're in it gets emptied straight away anyway) House does have a real alarm box on the front (not seen one out back?) as we do have an alarm. Again its just the setting it with the cat that's the problem. If we're both at work we don't want to have the alarm going off all day etc. Be great being able to remotely log in check cams and disarm and rearm the alarm system. Cost to build isn't much but obviously companies can charge what they want as it's more than a couple of hours of DIY work especially for it to be reliable! suenstar: Yeah I want to invest in that too. Never used one before and have thrown away a fair share of potentially sensitive documents. Working in a job where we deal with confidential waste i know how important it is, but it's never on my mind but i'll certainly invest in some sort of shredder when we can get the cash together. Yeah have considered the hidden partition, a lot of it is photos and stuff. I'd just like to keep private. I am considering the NAS in the cupboard since there is already power in there. Just a low power system so not much heat or energy used, again that'll have to wait a little while. Hopefully some of the above measures to prevent any break-ins in the meantime will if nothing else buy me some time. I'm sort of treating this as a "When not if" situation so that I get stuff done as I'm the worlds worst for procrastination! I'll upload some photos and I'm checking with the letting agency if the little bit of ground between us and the back garden is ours so we can fence it off and put up security lights and camera there since we can legally video our property.
The advantage of not having ****..i've gone to bed drunk and left all my windows and balcony door wide open, ground floor flat, nothing happened. I've got a knife and hammer by the bed just in case I get the excuse to **** someone up. This is not a nice area but people don't look here to do their robbing.
haha xD <3 a big mike joke. On a more serious note, I'd probably suggest not posting any more details on your thoughts on security for your property. Bearing in mind this section of the forums is open to everyone.
I have a Machete, knife, .22 air rifle and 3 dogs on the bed for the last few nights. I'm house sitting.
I'm trying to get that to work by outputting a jpeg every few seconds to the Roku. P.s. Where is my plex benchmark from your AM1 build hmmm?
Just set up a couple of those M16 rigs like in the finale of Breaking Bad, one pointing at the front of the house and one at the rear. If you hear a noise in the night, press your car keys = problem solved* *Your house may fall down, and a number of innocents will probably lose their lives too, but you've got to take home security seriously.
