Lousy Home Security Installation
Impressively bad. (Yes, it’s an advertisement. But there are still important security lessons in the blog post.)
1. The keypad is actually the control panel. This particular model is called a Lynx and is manufactured by Honeywell. However, most of the major manufacturers have their own version of an “all-in-one” control panel, siren & keypad (Here is a link to GE’s version). These all-in-one models were designed to simplify installation and are typically part of “free” or low-cost alarm systems. They are all equally useless.
The most important problem with systems like this is the fact that you need to have a delay time in order to open your door and get to the keypad each time you enter your home. So, when a crook breaks in, they also have the same amount of time. If the crook follows the sound of the beeping keypad they will be standing in front of not only the keypad, but the brains of the alarm system. So, rather than punching in a valid code, the crook could simply rip the entire unit off of the wall.
Provided that they rip the panel off of the wall before the alarm sends its first signal, it will never be able to send a signal.
2. If point #1 wasn’t bad enough (or maybe because the installer who put the ‘system’ in realized how useless it was going to be) the power supply for the system is located right beside the keypad/control panel. Unplug the transformer (which is just barely able to stay plugged in as it is) and the alarm loses power. This provides a really convenient way for someone to either accidentally or intentionally unplug the system and wait for the back-up battery to die.
3. Even worse, the phone jack has also been located beside the power supply. The phone jack is the alarm systems only connection to the outside world. If it gets unplugged, the system cannot communicate and a crook would not have to go through the hassle of ripping the panel off of the wall.
Kieran • October 19, 2006 10:12 AM
My understanding of alarm systems monitored by phone line (and I’m thinking specifically of the BT “redcare” system) is that they don’t need to send a signal to alarm so much as cease sending one regularly…
Frankly any alarm system that can be rendered useless by removing the phone line is useless as that can usually be cut from outside the building!