Triad works with business of all sizes and in all industries. Many small and medium sized businesses will start with a basic fire alarm and/or intrusion alarm. These systems alert people inside the building when smoke or heat is detected and warm people to evacuate the building. Intrusion alarms are often armed when the last person leaves the office or building and alert the owner, security manager or other authorized persons of a situation where a person has entered the building after hours without permission or without disarming the intrusion alarm.

The next phase of security usually involves video surveillance and/or a card access system. These are great steps in monitoring the comings and goings of people in the building and deterring or preventing people from entering restricted areas (i.e. management only, employees only, etc.) In the case with access control, security  is maintained by keeping doors locked and allowing only those with appropriate credentials to have an easy method of gaining entry.  

Unfortunately, opening the door for someone knocking or ringing the bell defeats the basic purpose of the card access system. The doors are secured and those who need access already have it. So who wants to get into your office? Someone who has forgotten or lost his credentials? A delivery? Or is it someone with the intent to harm? How can you be sure? Is the receptionist or office manager’s day disrupted frequently to answer open the door for deliveries and guests? How can they keep that responsibility and maintain their productivity? The answer is simple: install a video intercom.  

Video intercoms provide a safe and convenient method of notifying those on the secured side of a door that someone is requesting entry. The built-in camera supplies a clear view, allowing people to see and talk with visitors before opening, unlocking or even disrupting their productivity by having to get up and go to the door. Individuals can be greeted while their identity, intention, and even their frame of mind is determined. After verifying the purpose behind the visit, the touch of a button “buzzes” them in.

Triad account managers can help you to complete your security system with the addition of a video intercom. Triad offers products from only leading manufacturers in the industry and Triad technicians are factory trained.

For 25 years, Triad Security Systems has offered security systems to commercial and industrial clients. Triad Security Systems offers state of the art security solutions for clients in a variety of industries. We can help your business reduce inventory loss and loss due to employee or vendor theft or error. Call us today at 908-964-5252 to have a security expert review your security plan and offer quality technological solutions. Triad offers mechanical and electronic access control, video surveillance with analog or IP video cameras, licensed locksmith services such as key management, commercial lock maintenance and repair, intrusion (burglar) alarm & fire alarm detection and central station alarm monitoring and audio/video intercoms. Triad security experts can help you to deter criminals, prevent loss, detect illegal entry and report on daily activities in secured areas. Triad is a complete security solutions provider. Don’t hesitate to call us today! The investment you make today could not only help you save today but the long run as you protect your facility and assets.

Nigerian advance-fee fraud scams are alive and well. Ben Rothke looks at a series of emails for clues that should set off any recipient's sense of danger.

By Ben Rothke, CISSP

August 31, 2009 - CSO

The first generation of computer viruses was relatively easy to identify and quarantine. Get infected, run your favorite scanner, the scanner quarantined the virus—end of story. This process worked fine until the virus writers became more sophisticated. In the early 1990's, the world of computer viruses changed radically when polymorphic viruses came on to the scene. While early viruses were easy to indentify by their static signature, polymorphic viruses mutate and rendered the first-generation of virus scanners useless.

Similarly, the first generation of Nigerian advance-fee fraud scams was relatively easy to identify. But the real challenge was getting people not to fall for those scams. As far back as 1997, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the United States Department of State wrote a 33-page document [PDF link] that detailed the Nigerian advance-fee fraud scheme and how to avoid being a victim.

Also see Mind Games: How Social Engineers Win Your Confidence

The classic advance fee-fraud was somewhat limited in its scalability given that there are only so many permutations of murdered/deposed mothers, fathers, uncles, brothers and brother-in-laws, from corrupt governments in Nigeria, Somalia, Senegal and surroundings, and that over time, people would eventually become suspicious.

In response to growing consumer awareness the scammers started to do what the polymorphic viruses did—they mutated. However, while the scams are morphing, the end result is the same; the scammers get their money, and the victim is out, with no recourse.

With the tactics changing, what can you do to protect yourself from these scams? Technology and spam filters generally can't identify these emails. Scammers often compose their emails to not get flagged, and are often written like a prospectus sent from a legitimate firm. The best thing you can do is get a feel for these scams. Use your common sense, and remember the adage that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Finally and perhaps most importantly, develop your own sense of hinky.

What is hinky? In a fascinating article, BT Chief Security Technology Officer Bruce Schneier writes how terrorist Ahmed Ressam tried to enter the US from Canada with a suitcase bomb. Ressam was approached by U.S. Customs Agent Diana Dean, who asked him some routine questions and then decided he looked suspicious. Ressam was fidgeting, sweaty, jittery and avoided eye contact. In Dean's own words, he was acting hinky. Ressam's car was eventually searched, and he was finally discovered and detained.

Agent Dean did not use any fancy scanning technology; she used her experience and inner feelings to determine the hinky. And the rest is history.

Today's scammers require you to use your hinky to the maximum. Here is a recent scam where using hinky paid off.

Below are two screen shots from emails that initially, seem innocuous, but originate from scammers. For those without a well-developed sense of hinky, the invitation to the conference might be seem as complimentary or as a well-deserved honor. For those who reply without looking deeper, they are on their way to being scammed. This is unfortunate as these emails have a number of glaring aspects that help you recognize their fraudulent nature.  (exhibit A & exhibit B)

Here are a few red flags. While a single red flag does not necessarily render something a scam, when they number more than three, you should be extremely suspicious:

• Source is Africa based, and BusinessDay writes that Africa is in a league all of its own when corruption is the barometer.
• Return email address domain is usa.com, which is a link for finding cheap travel in the USA.
• Email states "We are accepting you to partake because you were recommended by one of our staff". Legitimate emails would likely state the name of the staff member.
• Contacts to reply to have domains of gmail.com, and usa.com. Usually a conference organizer will have a web site or dedicated domain, but not so in this case.
• The contact phone numbers which have U.S. area codes redirect to Africa. When asked, the answering party stated they were in Washington, DC. When asked, they couldn't say what the weather was like in Washington, DC or even give the name the street of their supposed office there. When called about an hour later, the same person claimed they were in New York City. The answering party was unable to provide any information about the conference, and said to register and book a hotel room, and then hung up.
• The email lists the conference website as www.aayo.co.cc. But co.cc is simply free domain name registrar.
  

Those who are hinky-challenged may respond and set themselves up as bait—which is exactly what the scammers are counting on. The email asks the party to supply a significant amount of personal data -- no legitimate conference would require that kind of information, and certainly not at such an early stage.

The email ends with a few paragraphs of irrelevant items to give it a semblance of legitimacy. It ends with contact information, but no physical address. (exhibit C)

If someone is foolish to respond by sending the information to the scammers, the heat will soon be on them. The scammers then send a confirmation email and advise the party that they then need to book a hotel room for their stay as detailed in the following email:

The attached registration forms are used to garner some additional personal information and give it a further semblance of legitimacy and the impression of a real conference. Once again, notice the contact information -- both of them have generic addresses, not one tied to a hotel chain.

If you reply to those, you get the next email in the chain where the scam comes full circle. The scammers ask you to wire your hotel deposit to them. (exhibit D)

Scammers always want to string the victim along and will always mix fact and fiction. In the email, the hotel claims to be a branch hotel under Accor Resorts, which is a legitimate chain. But hinky tells us that you should be able to book directly from the web site and secure the reservation with a credit card; not a cash wire transfer.

The scammers offer the victim two options for payment, of which only one will actually work, and they claim that it is the best method—specifically, the Western Union money transfer. They state they can only send the Official Letter of Hotel Confirmation letter upon receipt of the money. No legitimate hotel would ever do that.

For those who have been scammed this far, they may unsuspectingly send the money via Western Union. Once the scammers pick up their money, the scam has come full-circle. The scammers have your money and you have absolutely no resource or way to get your money back.

The reason scammers like Western Union is that it is extremely quick and reliable. Once the transferred money is picked up by the scammer, the victim unfortunately has absolutely no chance of recovering the money from Western Union.

Conclusion

Scammers are very creative and getting more sophisticated every day. They know people's weaknesses and use them to manipulate. Scammers continue to devise a never-ending set of variants on their frauds. While you can't defeat them, you can use your hinky to identify them, to ensure you don't become a victim.

Perhaps the best advice about dealing with such scams comes from Lankester Merrin, when he warned Damien Karras in The Exorcist "The demon is a liar, he will lie to confuse us, but he will also mix lies with the truth to attack us. The attack is psychological, Damien, and powerful. So don't listen to him. Remember that - do not listen". Use your hinky, and don't listen to the scammers.

Ben Rothke CISSP, QSA (ben.rothke@bt.com) is a Senior Security Consultant with BT Professional Services and the author of Computer Security: 20 Things Every Employee Should Know (McGraw-Hill Professional Education).

*Disclaimer

I have a professional Twitter account (follow me at Rachel4Triad) as well as a personal Facebook account and I know  I am guilty of a few of these mistakes. I received this email “Seven Deadly Sins of Social Networking Security” from a co-worker and I thought I’d pass it along to you bloggers out there. It seems there is a fine line between keeping your personal information personal and secure and reconnecting or networking with others. I don’t know that I would say that I’m addicted to the social networking sites but I do make a point to check in with them at least once a day. In some cases, as with my college roommates, it’s the primary way we keep in touch. Sometimes even when I’m on the phone with my dad, he’ll refer to something I tweeted or posted on my facebook page and I’ll wonder, “how did he even know about that?” Then I’ll remember that other people do actually read my pages just as you are reading this blog. So as I’m writing it, I feel somewhat protected that my thoughts are my personal thoughts, I realize I am letting other people get to know who I am – some of those readers I know and some are otherwise complete strangers. I realize as I standing in line at the grocery store that I wouldn’t dream of telling the checker or the person standing behind me about the sale I just closed or about the fact that have a pile of laundry still because I was too busy this past holiday weekend to get to it but somehow if I type it here or on one of the social networking sites that’s essentially what I’m doing.

If I could tell you anything right now what would it be? Well I’d tell you that I’m enjoying my job as a sales person and ask you to introduce me to 5 people you know that you think might have a need for security in their business. Is there someone you know who works in an office building – perhaps they are a tenant in an office park? Do you know someone who recently complained at work that people were dumping furniture or household garbage into their company’s dumpster over the weekend? Is there a company that recently had layoffs and is concerned about former employees having access to the building after hours? I’d like to meet all these people.

Until then, however, surf safely. Don’t put yourself in a vulnerable position that may result in a dangerous circumstance. If you have any other tips on how to keep secure online, I’d love to hear about them. For example, I know on Facebook, you can set your level of security/privacy and only allow your friends to be able to see your posts. Twitter gives you the option of having to approve followers before they can see your Tweets. These are just a couple in the vast cyberspace where so many of us spend so much of our waking hours.

From: www.csoonline.com

Seven Deadly Sins of Social Networking Security

To users of LinkedIn, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter or all of the above: Are you guilty of one of these security oversights?

by Bill Brenner, Senior Editor, CSO

June 30, 2009

Admit it: You are currently addicted to social networking. Your drug of choice might be Facebook or Twitter, or maybe Myspace or LinkedIn. Some of you are using all of the above, and using them hard, even IT security practitioners who know better.

While it's impossible to escape every social networking threat out there, there are steps one can take to significantly reduce the risks. CSOonline recently checked in with dozens of IT security professionals (ironically, using more than one social networking platform to do so) to pinpoint seven typical security mistakes people make; and how to avoid them.

1.    Over-sharing company activities
This is a sin of pride, when someone gets excited about something their company is working on and simply must tell everyone about it. Maybe you work for a drug company that is on the verge of developing the cure for cancer. Maybe the company is developing a new car that runs on curbside trash -- in other words, something everyone will want.

By sharing too much about your employer's intellectual property, you threaten to put it out of business by tipping off a competitor who could then find a way to duplicate the effort or find a way to spoil what they can't have by hiring a hacker to penetrate the network or by sneaking a spy into the building.

Then there are hackers controlling legions of botnets that could be programmed to scour a company's defenses and, upon finding a weakness, exploit it to access data on the intellectual property. With the data in hand, the hacker can then sell what they have to the highest bidder, which just might be your biggest competitor.

"Sharing this kind of information could lead to targeted attacks on specific technology-producing enterprises," says Souheil Mouhammad, a senior security expert at Altran Technologies.

This sin has sparked a debate in the security industry about whether companies need to revise their employee computer use policies with more specific language on what is/isn't allowed in the social networking arena.

To reign in the urge to share too much, it might be useful to repeat this saying, which has started to appear in the public domain: "Loose Tweets Sink Fleets."

2.    Mixing personal with professional
This sin is closely related to the first, but extends beyond the mere disclosure of company data. This is the case where someone uses a social network for both business and pleasure, most commonly on Facebook, where one's friends include business associates, family members and friends.

The problem is that the language and images one shares with friends and family may be entirely inappropriate on the professional side. A prospective employer may choose to skip to the next candidate after seeing pictures of you drunk or showing off a little too much leg at someone's birthday party. In sharing such things, you also stand a good chance of making the company you represent look bad.

"In my view one of the major rules when engaging in social networking is to be aware that your words belong in the public domain," says Paul V. de Souza, chief security engineer at AT&T. "You may be quoted all over the Internet, so make sure to choose your words carefully. Be diplomatic and extremely professional."

In some cases, it's nearly impossible to separate business from the personal on a social networking site. Those who work for media companies, for example, are sometimes required to use all their social networking portals to proliferate content in an effort to boost page views which, in turn, attract potential advertisers. But wherever and whenever possible, security practitioners work to keep each locked in their respective boxes.

"You have to understand very clearly what the objective of your presence on any given social network is. If it is for work, keep it for work only. If it is for personal/fun use, keep it for personal use only," says Benjamin Fellows, a senior IT security and risk consultant at Ernst & Young. "I can't tell you how many times I have been invited to Facebook by a work colleague only to find things on their wall or profile that are definitely not politically correct or are downright offensive. I keep all my work friends in LinkedIn and my personal friends in Facebook. Even then, I am very careful what I say on either site. I guess you could also put this under the heading of know your audience."

3.    Engaging in Tweet (or Facebook/LinkedIn/Myspace) rage
For the person who has just been laid off or had their professional integrity called into question online, the urge to fire back with a stream of vitriol can be irresistible. Call this a sin of wrath.

"You don't want to get into a flame war," says John Bruggeman, a Cincinnati-based IT director. "Be mindful of what you say and imagine you are at a party where everyone is listening, including your boss, spouse or future employer."

Scott Hayes, president and CEO of Database-Brothers Inc., agrees, saying, "Posting any content when angry is about as dangerous as sending flaming emails, if not more so. Think twice about clicking 'submit' because the world may be looking at your angry, immature rant for years."

4.    Believing he/she who dies with the most connections wins
For some social networkers, it's all about accumulating as many connections as possible. Folks on LinkedIn are notorious for doing this, especially those in such LinkedIn groups as TopLinked and LION. This may seem harmless enough or, at the worst, just annoying. But when the name of the game is quantity over quality, it's easy to link or "friend" a scam artist, terrorist or identity thief.

"Always verify the person who wants to get in contact with you," says Ruud van den Bercken, a security specialist at XS4ALL Internet in the Netherlands. "Do you know him or her? If not, why is the person trying to connect with you? Check if the profile of the other person is secured. If you can't retrieve a list of that person's connections, you have to ask yourself" if you really want to go down that road.

As San Francisco-based network and security architect/engineer Jatinder Thukral puts it: "I'd rather have 50 relevant contacts than 500 unknowns."

5.    Password sloth
Another common sin is one of laziness, in this case picking passwords for your social networks that you're least likely to forget. In many cases, that means using the same password for LinkedIn and Facebook that you're using for your online bank account or work machine. If someone with malicious intent figures out the password for one social network, that person can now go and access everything else.

"Using the same password on several sites is like trusting the weakest link in a chain to carry the same weight. Every site has vulnerabilities, plan for them to be exploited," says Daniel Philpott, information security engineer at OnPoint Consulting Inc.

6.    Trigger finger (clicking everything, especially on Facebook)
Facebook in particular is notorious as a place where inboxes are stuffed with everything from drink requests to cause requests. For some social networkers, clicking on such requests is as natural as breathing. Unfortunately, the bad guys know this and will send you links that appear to be from legitimate friends. Open the link and you're inviting a piece of malware to infect your machine. Christophe Veltsos, president of Prudent Security, describes this as being "click-happy" and warns, "Don't click unless you're ready to deal with drive-by downloads and zero-day attacks."

7.    Endangering yourself and others
All of the above tie into the seventh and perhaps most serious sin, which is that reckless social networking can literally put someone's life in danger. It could be a relative or co-worker. Or it could be yourself.

Security experts advise extreme caution when posting birthday information, too much detail on your spouse and children, etc. Otherwise, they could become the target of an identity thief or even a kidnapper.

For 25 years, Triad Security Systems has offered security systems to commercial and industrial clients. Triad Security Systems offers state of the art security solutions for clients in a variety of industries. We can help your business reduce inventory loss and loss due to employee or vendor theft or error. Call us today at 908-964-5252 to have a security expert review your security plan and offer quality technological solutions. Triad offers mechanical and electronic access control, video surveillance with analog or IP video cameras, licensed locksmith services such as key management, commercial lock maintenance and repair, intrusion (burglar) alarm & fire alarm detection and central station alarm monitoring and audio/video intercoms. Triad security experts can help you to deter criminals, prevent loss, detect illegal entry and report on daily activities in secured areas. Triad is a complete security solutions provider. Don’t hesitate to call us today! The investment you make today could not only help you save today but the long run as you protect your facility and assets.

*Disclaimer

I just returned from vacation. Ahhh… However, even when I’m on vacation I can’t help but to notice things that relate to my job. For example, I noticed every traffic camera on I-10 in Arizona not because they were stuck up on a poll blatantly in the middle of the highway but because one seemed to be pointed straight down and I wondered what the heck it was looking at. When I was at the spa in Scottsdale, I read a magazine about how to write effective blogs for your business. I apparently should be writing things that you want to know and not necessarily things that I want to tell you. I remember thinking as I sipped my ice water with lemon “well…duh!”.

The American economy now is a scary place. With major American car companies filing for bankruptcy, the end of an iconic era seems to be coming to an end. Companies that were at one time trend setters and leaders in their industries are begging for help and desperately trying to figure out how to keep their doors open. We all know someone or several people who have lost their jobs and finding a new one is rough.

So what are we supposed to do? It’s my opinion that we have to prioritize. Get back to basics. This certainly isn’t my proposal for how to fix the American economy but I know for myself, I’m doing simple things like turning lights off when I leave a room. Putting on a sweater if I’m cold or putting the air conditioner two or three degrees higher than I normally would. What does this mean for business? Well, I think small business owners especially are working their tails off to keep their employees in their jobs. Triad, for example, is not some big conglomerate who can save millions of dollars by laying off only 10% of its workforce. Yes, big business can keep their doors open and keep employing the other 90% of those people. At Triad, just like our customers, everyone has a name. There are 23 employees here. The company president says “good morning” personally to everyone in the office. The operations manager and the company vice president have had meetings to discuss policy and procedure changes that started with a simple exchange at the coffee pot.

It is the small business that is keeping our economy going. While I love the self-check out at Stop-n-Shop or the variety that I can experience at Lowes, I’m finding that I’m willing to pay just a little more for the produce at the local produce stand I pass on my way home because it tastes that much fresher. And I’m getting much more personal attention from the guy at the local hardware store when I need help with a DIY project. Don’t get me wrong. The big businesses have great people and I’ve had very good experiences there too. I just know in my world…everyone at my company, Triad, has a name. I think just about everyone in my company knew I was on vacation last week and not only that – they knew where I went and wanted to see some pictures! The same attention that we give to one another as co-workers we give ten fold to our clients. We enjoy being part of your lives. We love to be on the email list to your friends telling us that your daughter had a baby girl over the weekend. We share in your anxiety as your oldest child gets ready to go off to college. We’re regular guys (and gals) just like you. You are part of our world. The stories you share with us become part of our story.

Back to the economy…what do we do about it as a nation? Well, I can tell you that I’m really picky when it comes to service these days. Consumers, myself included, have a limited amount of disposable income and when I choose a vendor for something I do expect them to appreciate the fact that I chose them and treat me with respect and show their gratitude by being honest and thorough with the job they do for me. I expect the same things from my dry cleaner and mechanic and landscaper that I give freely to my own clients.

I’m looking for quality of workmanship and quality and attentiveness of service. Triad is celebrating 25 years of service in the security industry this year. That’s not because we’ve nickel and dimed every chump we’ve come across. When a vendor does a poor job, word definitely gets around. Looking for a security company? Did you know we are experts in access control, video surveillance (including IP camera and remote monitoring), intrusion and fire alarms and intercoms? Did you know Triad has licensed locksmiths on staff? Did you know that we really do understand if we can’t start that implementation next Wednesday because you have your son’s nursery school commencement ceremony? We are that company. We get it. If you haven’t done so already, call us today for a security assessment. Meet with one of our security experts and learn about how we can help you prevent losses and protect your employees, assets and facilities. (908) 964-5252

*Disclaimer

"This case clearly illustrates that the threat of terrorism in New York is persistent," Governor Paterson of New York said in a statement. Four men were arrested yesterday after being investigated for over a year. Their attempt to bomb a New York synagogues and a New York military base failed thank goodness. The scary part from my perspective is that 3 of the four men were American citizens (the other was of Haitian decent). These were people who were raised in American and whatever path their life took, they turned against the freedoms afforded to Americans and decided that America and certain people in our society were bad people. The First Amendment gives us the right to think and express ourselves freely so we don’t all have to get along necessarily – we don’t all have to get along. However, these four men not only wanted to express their disagreement with people of the Jewish faith, they wanted to kill them and cause mayhem.

I have to say that I am grateful that I work for a company that helps businesses, organizations and government buildings secure. Now is the time if your business doesn’t have any protections beyond a door lock and key to have a security consultation. I recently sat in on a webinar that listed the #1 reason why business owners do not have a video surveillance system is because they perceive them to be too expensive. First, this is not always the case and there are many solutions that are not exceptionally expensive. Is there a cost? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Now I’ve heard quite a few cliques - one says, “Quality isn’t cheap and cheap isn’t quality” and another “Quality isn’t expensive, it’s priceless.” It’s like that first aid kit I have in my trunk. It cost me $30 for the first aid kit in my trunk. When I bought it I remember thinking about how $30 seemed like a lot of money for just some band-aids and rubber gloves. I know, though, that even if I only use it once – the idea that I have this consortium of supplies like tweezers, an ice pack and antiseptic wipes – is going to be comforting and helpful to someone in a time of need – maybe even crisis. Apply that to having a security system. A business owner doesn’t need to go above and beyond what is needed but if it is at all affordable, I would strongly recommend doing it and doing it now before something happens and, after the fact, you find yourself saying, “if I had a camera or something, maybe I would have seen something or maybe we could have caught the guy.”

Second, if you are going to invest some of your budget dollars or make a capital investment into securing your facility, it’s worth doing it right. If you were diagnosed with a heart condition you wouldn’t get advice on your health from the waitress at the diner because her ex-husband’s father was a cardiologist, right? Of course not. You’d find the best cardiologist that you could afford and do what he/she tells you in order to prevent a heart attack. Just like if I wanted to secure my facility, I would want a quality system that I knew was reliable and I’d want to work with a company who could service my system when I needed it and was factory trained on the equipment they installed. I wouldn’t do it myself with only an 800 number to call for technical support. Let’s face it, my first aid kit and all the gauze in it isn’t going to be of any help to someone who is on the bottom of a massive car accident. I’m going to call professionals who know what they are doing and have been trained with the latest equipment to save that person’s life. So just because I can buy a 4 camera surveillance system from a big box store for $500 doesn’t mean it’s worth my money. You’ve got $500 for security? Great! Call an expert from Triad and talk to them about a plan for getting a quality security system installed. Maybe leasing a system would be a good option for you, maybe you can use better technology and not use 4 cameras – maybe two. The point is you don’t know until you talk to someone who knows the industry and has experience with your application and is familiar with all of the latest technology on the market.

Understand I’m not trying to scare you into buying a security system. I’m inviting you to use this news about these domestic terrorist as an opportunity to make a plan for securing your business, your assets and, most importantly, your employees. Sometimes it’s not equipment you’re trying to keep people from stealing or desks you’re trying to prevent from being vandalized – it’s people. You’re protecting and keeping safe the animal lover that sits on the other side of the cube wall who told you this morning about the neighbor’s new puppy she played with the night before or the manager whose wedding you attended last weekend or the account manager who’s desk is plastered with pictures of his family and who is looking forward to spending the weekend with his children down the shore. Thank God that no one was hurt in these attempts to bomb the synagogue. I’m sure there would be millions of dollars worth of damage and the community would come together and rebuild itself. Just consider that you may not need 150 cameras watching every square inch of your property and you don’t need to have your employees swipe their access card every time they walk into the restroom but maybe it would be helpful to put up a few cameras in the parking lot and a couple to monitor the entrances and exits of the office. Maybe being able to permit access to certain areas at certain times would be a good way of keeping everyone safe. What is peace of mind worth to you?

News Article: Four terror attack plotters nabbed

For 25 years, Triad Security Systems has offered security systems to commercial and industrial clients. Triad Security Systems offers state of the art security solutions for clients in a variety of industries. We can help your business reduce inventory loss and loss due to employee or vendor theft or error. Call us today at 908-964-5252 to have a security expert review your security plan and offer quality technological solutions. Triad offers mechanical and electronic access control, video surveillance with analog or IP video cameras, licensed locksmith services such as key management, commercial lock maintenance and repair, intrusion (burglar) alarm & fire alarm detection and central station alarm monitoring and audio/video intercoms. Triad security experts can help you to deter criminals, prevent loss, detect illegal entry and report on daily activities in secured areas. Triad is a complete security solutions provider. Don’t hesitate to call us today! The investment you make today could not only help you save today but the long run as you protect your facility and assets.

*Disclaimer

A co-worker handed me this article in an industry magazine and said, “Here I thought this was pretty cool for the newsletter or something.” It was entitled, “Rutgers study finds alarm systems are valuable crime fighting tool.” No s***! Kind of an obvious conclusion, don’t you think? Of course having a burglar alarm for your home would make it less attractive to intruders, right? Well this study “was conducted with the cooperation of the Newark Police Department and reviewed five years of police data. The more than 300-page study was conducted over a two-year period and funded by the non-profit Alarm Industry Research and Education Foundation.  Apparently this type of study “helps police deploy their limited resources more efficiently.” It goes on to say that “it is the most comprehensive study of its kind because it uses in-depth research techniques..[We] were able to eliminate the variables that impact crime rates and focus directly on the impact alarm systems have on residential burglaries.”  Affordability for middle class homeowners has been a factor in the last 5 years. I found this article to be, and I say this with the most amount of respect as possible, a joke, or more specifically, I find that there’s some organization that would do a study and pay money to research this information. Let me think about this…I would tend to believe that most break-ins are not done by career burglars. They don’t look like George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon and they don’t have maps of neighborhoods and mock safes to practice on beforehand. Especially in a struggling city like Newark, NJ, I would imagine there are some desperate people who are likely hooked on drugs or have some type of untreated mental illness who are more likely the intruders.

So, gee, if I’m a middle class resident of Newark and I have an alarm system and someone who’s mentally incapacitated (either chemically or biologically) sees the “property protected by Triad Security Alarm” sticker in my window, he/she is going to keep walking? Or perhaps it’s because word gets out that a certain block of houses on Mt. Prospect Avenue isn’t worth going to because Jimmy caught a case after he broke into a house there and now he’s doing a 5 flat for burglary. They’ve all got alarm systems and the cops pay attention??? I wonder if the study took into account the fact that the city of Newark has displaced hundreds of families who were living in low income house projects to other towns or into townhouse type communities where police sit outside and watch the drug deals go down. The article mentions how the study helps police with their limited resources. Perhaps the organization should consider deploying resources to arrest the dealers in the projects or hanging outside the bodegas instead of using Newark’s finest to participate in a study of whether or not security deterrents actually deter criminal activity. I’m not saying I have the answers but I’m saying there’s something missing here. I’d like to know by how much exactly crime in areas where there were alarms has decreased compared to areas wehre there are no known alarms. The only other reference point I have to compare this to is car alarms. My car has a car alarm on it. Yours probably does too if you have power locks. How many times have you gone to the mall or the grocery store or even in your parking lot at work and heard a car alarm going off? Did you do anything about it – see what car it was? Call the police? Alert the security desk in your building? I don’t. Sadly, I’m almost embarrassed to say that most people would probably do the same thing if they heard a house alarm just go inside and complain about how annoying it is. Maybe they’d call the police simply because of the noise problem rather than the fact that someone may have broken into the house. Where were these houses in the study located? Businesses have alarms in most cases – in Newark most businesses on Broadway just north of the police station have gates that come down over their doors and windows at night. I see lots of security cameras. I also still see gangs and dealers in the area too.

Working in the security industry, I believe that security systems do deter wrong doers from committing crimes. Is it perfect? No. I think in most cases, however, the security cameras are there to catch the criminal after the fact and prosecute. The security alarm sticker on my house or my car for that matter might make the guy go to the next house or the next car instead of dealing with my alarm just in case. And that’s why I have a security system…just in case. I know it’s not foolproof. And I know if everyone in America had a security system that there would still be crime. There would still be break ins. There would still be desperate people willing to do desperate things.  I think if I was one of the few on my block that didn’t have a security system, that I’d be inviting crime into my home. If I have no guard up, I’m asking for it basically. If I at the very least put up my best defense to protect my home and my loved ones, I’m at least willing to fight back and not passively let you Mr. or Ms. Criminal just come and take what I worked so hard for and what I care so deeply about. That’s just my 2 cents.

“Rutgers Study Finds Alarm Systems are Valuable Crime Fighting Tool,” Security Products. May 2009,  page 16.

For 25 years, Triad Security Systems has offered security systems to commercial and industrial clients. Triad Security Systems offers state of the art security solutions for clients in a variety of industries. We can help your business reduce inventory loss and loss due to employee or vendor theft or error. Call us today at 908-964-5252 to have a security expert review your security plan and offer quality technological solutions. Triad offers mechanical and electronic access control, video surveillance with analog or IP video cameras, licensed locksmith services such as key management, commercial lock maintenance and repair, intrusion (burglar) alarm & fire alarm detection and central station alarm monitoring and audio/video intercoms. Triad security experts can help you to deter criminals, prevent loss, detect illegal entry and report on daily activities in secured areas. Triad is a complete security solutions provider. Don’t hesitate to call us today! The investment you make today could not only help you save today but the long run as you protect your facility and assets.

On my way home last night, I stopped at the bank because I needed to get some cash. My bank doesn’t have a drive up ATM; instead you have to park and if it’s after hours I use my card to give me access to the area where the ATM machine is located inside the bank. There was a person already in there using the machine and since it was a nice day out I just waited outside until they were finished and came out and then they held the door open for me. Now there was certainly plenty of space for me to go in the area and just stand to the side and not be threatening to the person that was in there but I figured it was a nice night so I’d wait outside and not hurry the person along. So as I’m doing my thing, and a man in his 30s or 40s walks in – clean cut, nicely dressed, good-looking guy – and he stands behind me while I’m still at the ATM. Weird, I thought, there’s plenty of space in here and he’s crowding my space! Now I have a very small bubble of personal space but, come on, buddy, give me some room here.  Thankfully I was pretty much already done with the transaction and just took my money and left. It made me think though – what could I have done differently to make myself safer in that situation?

Working in the security industry, I’m usually very aware of cameras and where they are and what they can see from that angle. My mind tends to jump to ways that a particular business is unsecure. For example the way that the ATM areas work is by site code on my ATM card.  That’s why if the door is locked you slide your ATM card in and out and the door unlocks for you – even if you are using an ATM other than that of your regular bank. One must have an ATM card to gain access to where the machine is. I know there is a camera in or near the ATM machine that watches me while I complete my transaction. There are also a number of camera around the bank that are probably watching me too. However, I also know that unless there is a security guard watching the camera 24/7, it’s likely that it will only capture the events that took place and act as a tool for law enforcement after the fact if there is some sort of incident. I imagine that there’s no security guard being paid to watch a monitor at my bank and call authorities if it looks like something is going to go down.

There are scams too that we as consumers have to look out for. Check out this pdf that gives you a play by play of how a customer gets his card and PIN stolen. The bottom line is this: if you feel uncomfortable in a situation – get out! Your money and being a little inconvenienced by having to go to another bank is not worth bodily harm or worse. Unfortunately, there are desperate people that live in our country and desperate people will do desperate things when they feel like their back is against the wall and it’s not difficult to fall victim to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Here are some tips that I’d like to pass along that hopefully you can keep in the back of your mind the next time you stop at an ATM to get some cash:

1 - Always pay close attention to the ATM and your surroundings. Don't select an ATM at the corner of a building -- corners create a blind spot. Use an ATM located near the center of a building. Do your automated banking in a public, well-lighted location that is free of shrubbery and decorative partitions or dividers.

2 - Maintain an awareness of your surroundings throughout the entire transaction. Be wary of people trying to help you with ATM transactions. Be aware of anyone sitting in a parked car nearby. When leaving an ATM make sure you are not being followed. If you are, drive immediately to a police or fire station, or to a crowded, well-lighted location or business.

3 - Do not use an ATM that appears unusual looking or offers options with which you are not familiar or comfortable.

4 - Do not allow people to look over your shoulder as you enter your PIN. Memorize your PIN; never write it on the back of your card. Do not re-enter your PIN if the ATM eats your card -- contact a bank official. Shield your PIN during the transaction. To guard against others observing you as you key in your PIN at a terminal, stand directly in front of the keyboard or PIN pad to block the view of anyone standing near you.

5 - Never count cash at the machine or in public. Wait until you are in your car or another secure place.

6 - When using a drive-up ATM, keep your engine running, your doors locked and leave enough room to maneuver between your car and the one ahead of you in the drive-up line.

7 - Maintain a supply of deposit envelopes at home or in your car. Prepare all transaction paperwork prior to your arrival at the ATM. This will minimize the amount of time spent at the machine.

8 - Closely monitor your bank statements, as well as your balances, and immediately report any problems to your bank.

9 - If you are involved in a confrontation with an assailant who demands your money, COMPLY. Money can be replaced – you can’t!

10 - If you know of, or experience a crime at an ATM, report it immediately to the ATM owner and to the local police.

11 - Never give card information out over the phone. No one else ever needs to know your PIN- not even representatives of your financial institution, retail clerks or the police.

12 - Report a lost or stolen card at once. Even though your ATM card cannot be used without your PIN, report a lost or stolen card to your financial institution immediately.

13 - Keep your receipts. To guard against transaction fraud, check your receipts against your monthly statement. If anything looks irregular, or there are any unauthorized transactions, report them to your financial institution immediately.

Feel like you already know all there is to know about ATM Safety, take this quiz: http://www.diebold.com/playingitsafe/quiz/default.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2o0Wh8dVZY

Caught on Tape! and Smile, You’re on Candid Camera! are just two television programs that remind Americans how often they are being watched by someone – big brother, mall security, the superintendent, the town council even your own neighbor san set up an IP camera and monitor the comings and goings of people/things over the internet. How safe is your business? What are you looking for?

• Are there restricted entrances that employees are not permitted to enter after hours?
• Do you want to see who is going into the conference room after it’s been closed and locked for the day? 
•  Are there criminals in your parking lots stealing your employees’ headlights? 
•  Do you come in on Monday morning only to see 2 sofas stuffed into your dumpster? 
•  Has there been equipment stolen from your facility?
• Have you been the recent target of vandalism costing you not only money to fix but time to file a claim and have the mess cleaned up?
• Have you recently had to fire or lay off an employee and fear some level of retribution?

• Don't hire problems. A well-thought-out background screening is your best tool. With a candidate's permission, you may do a legal check, which costs from $50 to $500. Be careful, though. In many instances you cannot legally discriminate against an applicant based on an arrest record.
• Establish checks and balances. Restructure your staff so that different employees handle purchasing, receiving, and accounts payable. When you're a small business, you tend to place those functions in the hands of one person which is risky. You save in salary expense by having one person do it all but you can be setting yourself up for theft.
• Control inventory. Consider instituting a perpetual inventory system. Have staff check finished goods and raw materials every day instead of only once at the end of the month, and hire an outside firm to do a year-end audit. Also consider rotating inventory responsibility. Retail chains, for example, should have managers from different stores take inventory for one another.
• Educate employees. Show your employees how bottom-line repercussions of theft affect the company and encourage their help. Outline procedures for reporting theft, ensure confidentiality, and lay out the consequences of dishonesty. Employees who deal directly with customers, vendors, and the public should have a good understanding of the company's policy on gifts -- and when they're considered implicit bribes.
• Take a preventive approach. An employee-assistance program can help prevent workplace theft. Plain old-fashioned greed is a prime motivator, but financial difficulties, substance abuse, and even mental-health problems can also lead to theft. Provide a problem-solving forum for your workers and you may be helping to defuse their impulse to steal. 

*Disclaimer

How many times have you heard: “…in this economic downturn” or “…in these rough economic times…”? Are you just as tired of hearing about the economy as I am? At Triad, we’ve acknowledged that clients are being more careful with the spending of their budget dollars but the installation schedule is just as full now as it was 6 months ago. I know I’m personally making choices very carefully and where I would have previously been more likely to take a chance on a new campaign or give away, I’ve tabled quite a few of the frills in favor of sticking with what works. Triad customers recognize that securing a facility is critical especially in times when laid off employees have the possibility of becoming the “disgruntled ex-employees”.

Did you know you can lease alarm equipment from Triad? Leasing is a great option for those companies who want to secure their facility with an alarm system and also want one affordable monthly payment. The greatest advantage to a Triad lease is that it includes a service & maintenance contract that covers parts, materials and labor for the entire alarm system as well as any emergency or miscellaneous service calls.^* Other lease options afford a client the option of purchasing the system for $1 at the end of the lease term.^{^}

Today, when everyone is looking to make each dollar go as far as it can, leasing may be the best solution for you.  Triad Account Managers are experts in the security industry and they are well versed in the unique requirements each client’s industry faces. Maintaining a system is key to keeping a system running without any trouble and without fail. Buy out options make it easy to acquire the needed security for a facility at an affordable price.

For 25 years, Triad Security Systems has offered security systems to commercial and industrial clients. Triad Security Systems offers state of the art security solutions for clients in a variety of industries. We can help your business reduce inventory loss and loss due to employee or vendor theft or error. Call us today at 908-964-5252 to have a security expert review your security plan and offer quality technological solutions. Triad offers mechanical and electronic access control, video surveillance with analog or IP video cameras, licensed locksmith services such as key management, commercial lock maintenance and repair, intrusion (burglar) alarm & fire alarm detection and central station alarm monitoring and audio/video intercoms. Triad security experts can help you to deter criminals, prevent loss, detect illegal entry and report on daily activities in secured areas. Triad is a complete security solutions provider. Don’t hesitate to call us today! The investment you make today could not only help you save today but the long run as you protect your facility and assets.

*Disclaimer

^{*service & maintenance agreements do not cover acts of God or damages as a result of water or vandalism. Other restrictions may apply. ^Other lease options do not include service & maintenance agreements. These may be purchased separately. Other restrictions may apply.} 

By DANA DiFILIPPO
The Philadelphia Daily News

THE SEPTEMBER NIGHT that turned Desiree Wylie's days into a marathon of misery started with a full bladder.

It was a half-hour before midnight. She awoke to use the bathroom. She knew something was wrong when she flipped the light switch and nothing happened. In the hallway, she felt a draft. Then, she smelled smoke.

Horror hit hard.

"Jessica! Fire!" she screamed up the stairs, where her 22-year-old daughter, Jessica Torres, slumbered with her sons, 4 and 3.

The ensuing chaos was full of noise: the women's cries of terror and calls for help, the thundering of their feet as they scrambled to escape, the sounds of destruction below as fire devoured the first floor.

But not the shriek of a smoke detector.

Wylie said she had at least seven scattered throughout her three-story home in Coatesville, all with fresh batteries she had put in to prepare for a recent house inspection.

"I didn't hear a single one going off," Wylie said. "All I heard was the kids screaming, us panicking."

Although firefighters universally trumpet the life-saving benefits of smoke detectors, Wylie witnessed - with heartbreaking results - the shortcomings of ionization alarms, the cheapest and most commonly used smoke detectors.

Because ionization detectors are less sensitive to the smoke produced by smoldering fires, they can take a half-hour or more longer than their competitor - photoelectric detectors - to alert residents of brewing danger.

For Wylie, that delay was the difference between life and death.

Within seconds, the smoke grew so thick that she couldn't get to her 11-year-old son, Brian Kelly Westmoreland Jr. It turned so toxic that Torres, who had smashed a third-floor window to escape, couldn't get to her sons, Tyrone and Tyzhier Hill, who had collapsed unconscious out of reach.

All three boys died of smoke-inhalation in the Sept. 21 blaze, which smoldered in a trash can behind the house before spreading. Investigators ruled the fire at Wylie's house accidental.

A crusade against ion detectors

Tragedies like Wylie's infuriate Jay Fleming, a Boston deputy fire chief. He has made it his life's crusade to educate fire and government officials and the public about the potentially deadly deficiencies of ionization, or ion, detectors.

"It's needless, just totally didn't have to happen," Fleming said of the Coatesville boys' deaths.

When it comes to fire protection, consumers have three choices in smoke-detector technology: ion or photoelectric alarms, or a hybrid of the two.

The ion device, which uses a small amount of radioactive material to create an electric current within the unit, sounds when smoke particles interrupt the current.

Photoelectric detectors use optical technology; they go off when smoke particles reflect part of a light beam onto a photo detector.

Priced as low as $7, ion alarms typically cost half as much as their photoelectric counterpart. And although both technologies have been around for decades, photoelectric units until the early 1980s had to be hard-wired, making them less popular than the battery-operated ion alarms.

That affordability and convenience made the ion alarms a best-seller. The National Fire Protection Association figures that 96 percent of American homes have smoke detectors, and Kidde, one of the top manufacturers of both detectors, estimates that 90 percent of those alarms are ions.

But the two technologies react differently to different smoke.

In flaming fires, ion alarms activate faster, by about 30 seconds, because they are more sensitive to the tiny particles such fires emit.

But smoldering fires, the type that happen overnight when people sleep, produce larger particles that set photoelectric alarms off faster - by as much as 30 minutes, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and controlled burns done by Fleming for Hook, a magazine for firefighters.

Ion alarms also sometimes fail to sound in smoldering fires even when smoke has thickened enough to significantly degrade visibility, NIST acknowledged in August 2007 testimony to the Boston City Council.

Further, ion alarms are easily triggered by shower steam and cooking smoke, Fleming found, a drawback that prompts plenty of frustrated folks to yank out - and sometimes forget to reinsert - the batteries.

Because smoke can incapacitate and kill in minutes, Fleming says, such shortcomings are unforgivable.

"Since 1990, the industry's and government's refusal to recognize this problem has resulted in thousands of needless deaths," Fleming said.

Fleming believes the best fire protection is a photoelectric detector, and says fire-safety advocates should educate the public about its superiority. He wants manufacturers to put warning labels on the packaging of ion alarms, alerting buyers to their delay in smoldering fires.

And fire investigators should start keeping track of what kinds of detectors, if any, were present in burned homes or businesses to develop data that would demonstrate which technology is better, he said.

Hook took up Fleming's cause in an exhaustive report last July, and the International Association of Fire Fighters joined their efforts shortly afterward.

"Don't just change your batteries; change your smoke detector too," IAFF officials urged in an October announcement, in which they called for federal, state and local leaders to change building codes to require photoelectrics.

Coatesville, Philly share a goal

Nowhere is the issue more pressing than Coatesville, a city ablaze.

Firefighters in the 2-square-mile burg have responded to about 35 arsons since January 2008. As investigators scramble to determine who is setting the fires, some residents and experts say authorities should focus more on whether residents have smoke detectors effective enough to save them.

"The terror we still live through, watching everybody else's house burn up here - this is why I go through counseling, this is why I'm medicated," Wylie said. "It's like we relive our fire every time" the arsonists strike.

Still, many industry and fire-safety experts insist that ion alarms provide adequate escape time and warn that the debate could shake consumer confidence in smoke detectors.

"They all have their pros and cons," Coatesville Fire Chief Kevin Johnson said of the types of alarms. "But the bottom line here is that it's better to have any kind than none at all."

Johnson has stepped up efforts to install ion alarms in homes and businesses in the wake of the arson rampage.

"We have citizens, they don't have smoke alarms at all," added Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers. "So our first goal is to get everyone with smoke alarms. Two, to educate them what to do when the smoke alarms go off and plan with their family an escape plan. Then after that, we want to make sure that they practice that [escape plan] every once in a while. Whether it's ionization or photoelectric, I'm not concerned with that as much as I am first getting everyone in a safety frame of mind."

Kidde spokeswoman Heather Caldwell agreed: "The most important thing is to have a working smoke alarm in your home, regardless of the technology."

Fleming brushes off such logic.

"I'm not saying people should get rid of ionization alarms. They are better than nothing," Fleming said. "But it's like arguing that you don't need airbags in your car because you already have seat belts. We need to educate the public not only about the benefits of smoke detectors in general, but of photoelectrics in particular."

Fleming has at least one local supporter.

"He's correct, and he has the bodies to back it up, unfortunately," said Brian McBride, president of Local 22, the city firefighters' union.

McBride said he recently replaced ion alarms in his home and the homes of two of his grown children with photoelectric alarms.

"It's a small investment [to buy photoelectrics], and in these days of fire-company cuts and the increased response time they bring, you're going to want every bit of escape time you can get," McBride said.

But Ayers, who uses ion alarms in his home, said he won't push for photoelectrics until they're the national standard. While the National Fire Protection Association and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission agree that photoelectrics are faster in smoldering fires, they also emphasize that both technologies allow enough escape time in most fires.

"When you hear about this debate, you say: 'Wait a minute, are we putting something out there that's not giving people enough time to get out?' But then we look at the data, the studies, the cost, and I think we can do the ionization until we find more compelling data that would make the whole country change [to photoelectrics]," Ayers said.

The Philadelphia Fire Department spends about $100,000 a year to put about 30,000 free ion alarms in city homes and businesses, Ayers said. A fourth of that money comes from the city, and corporate and philanthropic donations cover the rest, he said.

To switch to photoelectrics, "we'd need to double or triple that. But we want to get the most [alarms installed] that we can with the funds that we receive."

Class-action suit brewing

Still, Ayers and other fire chiefs might not have time to wait for government entities to change policies.

A Boston law firm filed a class-action suit last summer against Kidde and First Alert, alleging that the two companies have misled and imperiled citizens by not alerting them to problems with ion alarms.

The lawsuit could affect thousands of people.

In 2007, fires in 530,500 structures resulted in 3,000 deaths, 15,350 injuries and $10.6 billion in property damage, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

In Philadelphia, 39 people died in 20 fires last year, said Chief Daniel Williams, a fire spokesman. Smoke alarms were present and sounded in 10 of those blazes, while in another six, firefighters found detectors that either hadn't activated or had dead or no batteries, Williams added.

"Fire companies want to blame fire deaths on a lack of smoke detectors, but half of your [Philadelphia's] fatal fires had working smoke detectors," Fleming said. "So do you see the problem there?"

Jessica Torres and Desiree Wylie do. At least now.

Before Sept. 21, they didn't know about more than one kind of smoke detector, or that theirs might not do what it was supposed to do. Although more than four months have passed, their heartache remains just as raw as the day they lost Brian, Tyrone and Tyzhier.

"I believe we all would have made it out, if we'd just had more time," Wylie said. "We might have lost the house, but we would have each other. The boys would still be here, and we would have had each other."

For 25 years, Triad Security Systems has offered security systems to commercial and industrial clients. Triad Security Systems offers state of the art security solutions for clients in a variety of industries. We can help your business reduce inventory loss and loss due to employee or vendor theft or error. Call us today at 908-964-5252 to have a security expert review your security plan and offer quality technological solutions. Triad offers mechanical and electronic access control, video surveillance with analog or IP video cameras, licensed locksmith services such as key management, commercial lock maintenance and repair, intrusion (burglar) alarm & fire alarm detection and central station alarm monitoring and audio/video intercoms. Triad security experts can help you to deter criminals, prevent loss, detect illegal entry and report on daily activities in secured areas. Triad is a complete security solutions provider. Don’t hesitate to call us today! The investment you make today could not only help you save today but the long run as you protect your facility and assets.

*Disclaimer