"Home grown" security system.

[GigaBuist]

I think this is on-topic for THR. If not, I applogize.

Due to recent crime activity in the area of my company's office we're concoting a home grown security system. We're all Information Technolgy (read: computer geek) professionals so building one would be a fun pastime for the weekend(s) and let us sleep soundly at night.

I'm looking for THR members to blow holes in our ideal system. What else could be done to keep the BGs at bay here?

Problem #1: Our office is a historical landmark, sorta. The building's external appearance cannot be modified so that it detracts from the neighborhood. Putting bar's on the windows is not an option because of this. Given that the building is rented getting impact resistant glass in place isn't likely to happen either.

Problem #2: We're a technology company. Loss of equipment _could_ be a big problem.

Problem #3: We're in a rather "ghetto" neighborhood for lack of a better word. I don't mean to offend any Jewish members but the word has taken on a new connotation in the last 2 decades. Police response can't be expected in under 20 minutes (measured) for our area for a breakin.

Bonus #1: We're all tech geeks. Wired to the teeth so to speak. We carry cellphones, text pagers, and PDA's capable of receiving a plethora of information.

Bonus #2: Because we're geeks we can program just about any electronic solution that comes to mind.

So, here's the skinny on our plan.

One, we can't put iron bars in the windows. I see no problem with putting "shutters" on the inside though that can be closed at night. They're wood, which won't destroy the "atomosphere" of the building at night when viewed from the outside. I'm thinking nice thick cedar type shutters well reinforced from the inside. This makes the "brick through the window" problem kind of go away. Suggestions on how to reinforce said shutters recomended.

Two, the office has 24/7 internet access. We envision 3-4 cameras that are connected online all the time. Motion detectors (the X10 variety) scattered about the office would alert to any such situation. In the event of motion we:

1) Nab pictures and immediately email/FTP them to remote sites. To our cellphones, to our main email accounts, and to my machine(s) at home for archival purposes.

2) Cameras rotate to point of motion and begin sending pictures out every 2-3 secons to offsite locations. Even if they grab EVERYTHING in the office we have them "on tape".

3) Sound system informs them rather loudly that they're now on tape and that the owners of the premise have been informed. I would like to employ a "you've commited a felony and upon arrival said citizens have the legal right to shoot you" message. Open to suggestions here. Their crime may not be a felony at that point but I see no harm in letting them know that a feller with an AK is going to be there before the police... so you'd better quit and leave everything where it is.

Some would like the system to call 911 or a security service and play a "loop" explaining the alarm. There's probably legal ramifications for a false 911 alarm (and any system has it's faults) so I advise against it. I'd rather one of the people alerted manually check the online "tape" and alert 911 themselves explaining what they see.

Any "holes" that y'all see? Any recomendations on what they audio loop should be saying? Any suggestions as to what should happen in the event of a remote alarm on our part? Should I bugger down to the situation at hand myself given that I can probably be there before police and come armed? If so, what should I bring? OC? Semi-auto EBR? Pistol? Shotgun? Baton/baseball bat/golf club?

 

[Glamdring]

3M and perhaps others make films that you can put on windows that make them harder to break thru.

Also check out local Mall. The gates they have to lock up their store usually have company name on it (manufacture's name) I am sure they make products that could be installed on inside of windows and doors.

Alarms, most police departments frown on auto dialers. Check with local police to see what policies they have. They will want to have key holders name and number at minimum. Some will not take direct calls from auto dialers (you need to use alarm company or some such to avoid problems with false alarms).

Talk to local locksmith and glass/door people. They should be able to help you harden doors, windows, and locks.

But the truth is if someone wants to get in they can. And you can't trust landlines for alarms.

Honestly I would focus your security measures on making it safe for PEOPLE and use insurance policy to cover risk of loss from theft. No matter what you spend on alarms and locks it is easy to break into buildings. Putting the cost of expensive alarm system into insurance makes more sense from $$ perspective as long as the people are safe.

I have advised a few home owners on home security, I recommend things that make people safer when they are there, and make it easier to tell if someone broke in while you were gone so you don't bump into goblin when you come home. Insurance is for the rest.

 

[igor]

I second what Glamdring says. Better invest the effort in commercially available products and optimizing your preparedness between those and insurance.

One point, though - you can complement or replace the landline alarm communication with a cellular communicator. And isn't there some kind of an analog radio data service for that in the US as well?

Anyhow: security systems and video monitoring can be built without end and some of those gadgets can be fun to implement too. What counts, though, is not that you wake up to your mobile phone and PDA screaming and get some video stored off-site while you contemplate if you or your less popular colleague should be there first.

What counts is 1. what kind of a professional responds to the alarm on-site and how fast, 2. what they can do then to minimize damage to your ability to continue business as usual and 3. how your insurance, data back-up procedures, inventory updates and such will help towards same end. Forget the perpetrators.

One more eccentric trip: there's a British company that makes a system which will fill the premises with totally unpenetrable smoke within seconds after the alarm is triggered. The "smoke" is actually some kind of a vapor, totally harmless, won't even make a mess. What it does is, it hinders damage and loss. You can't see your nose's length, you can only try to find your way back out. No way to unscrew or forcibly open anything to take with you. The mfg. name escapes me now.

OK, one more. A night-watch dog. Complemented with some very simple intrusion detection on windows and doors, cheap and effective. You can use your IP video to confirm whether someone needs rescuing from the dog.

 

[Vic303]

Try installing a hi-volume dispensing PepperGas system. There's a simple tripwired version available formerly called Terminator. You can see their ads in GunList. If you fill the room/s with a lot of OC, nobody's gonna stick around long enough to cart off loot! You could get one rigged up on motion sensors I think.

 

[Highland Ranger]

Move to a safer location.

Build your own building, make it out of thick concrete.

(On the existing building, don't forget walls and floors. No need for a door when you have a sawzall and can make your own.)

 

[hso]

If you can't move to a modern building -

First off get a professional alarm service that has monitoring offices in your town to install intrusion detection devices and an alarm system that screams 110+ dB so that it hurts to be there. Set it up so that you can power it down from outside the building. Have them monitor the place and call LEO if there's a break in.

Next move all the valuable hardware behind the front room door interior to the building and put up a roll security door behind that door (or wood-look steel security door). Do the same for any other doors that may take them back to the hardware. If they break into the front they only reach an admin computer and furniture and all your valuable equipment is behind the security door. If that doesn't work try these http://www.qmishutters.com/rolltec/index.shtml on the windows so that the archetechtural asthetics aren't dimished.

Talking security systems and cameras don't mean a thing to folks that are going to kick in your door and steal your gear. A $0.98 ski mask defeats your cameras usefullenss and they know it. They have all the time they need (~15 minutes) to load all your stuff into a car/truck and that's all they need. Your only recourse is to make it take longer than it's worth to get to the gear.

 

[D.W. Drang]

You mentioned that X10 stuff, there are similar systems that you could put together and install yourselves. While I hate X10's pop-up ads, and their web site is cheesy, their stuff works. As tecky as you say you guys are, you could buy off the shelf from them and put together a great system. One advantage is that it would be monitored, which is a +. (There are similar systems, if you HATE X-10; Frye's Electronics sells a lot of this.)

Check with the Local Law when putting this together, as many localities require that alarm systems be licensed, partly so "they" can fine you when they respond to a false alarm. (We discovered The Hard Way that the new hi-tech batteries have a flaw when used in a system that requires a constant flow of juice; apparently they work by a"pulsing" the current flow, which can lead to the system thinking the power has been cut... )

Definately check with The Law--and maybe your lawyer--before incorporating a threat of bodily harm into your system. Consider: After that threat, the first guy who comes through the door may be met by a "hail of bullets".

Look into custom iron scrollwork to mount in- or outside of the windows and doors; either weay, make sure that there is a quick-release for fire safety, not reachable from inside.

 

[Bacchus]

Will your insurance cover the loss if you build your own alarm system or would it be more prudent to have a "professional" installer?

 

[pwrtool45]

http://www.nokia.com/search/index.jsp?st=1&wsid=8&qt=security+camera

Not geeky, since everything's already done, but an option.

Hso has a point. Professional monitoring services are a good thing. Definitely eases the ire of LE with regard to false positives. Probably also looks better to insurance companies (re: cheaper rates, I'd guess).

That said...

An X10 array connected to a `nix box with a cron job set up to snap pics and upload them on a regular basis as well as allowing SSH logins for activating the real-time video feed should you catch someone in the act is also cool. I suppose you could give it a dedicated phone line and connect it to a speaker phone as well, thus allowing you to call in and converse with the robbers. ("Hey you. Yeah, you. The one with the goofy mask. Might wanna beat it. The owner is on his way with a SAR-1. The police will be showing up shortly afterwards.") Regardless of weather or not what you say is true (hopefully not....let the cops handle it; court costs are higher than gear costs I can almost guarantee) you can probably convince them to leave in a hurry, taking less of your gear with them than they would have otherwise.

I've never tinkered with X10 cameras, so I don't know much there. Apple offers a Linux Quicktime streaming server, so that aspect is doable. SSHD is no big deal to setup. Cron is fairly easy to configure as well. Seems quite possible.

 

[BrokenPaw]

In the battle between armor and weapons, weapons will always eventually win. There is nothing that you can to to secure the facility that will stop a truly determined person from entering.

You have 24/7 internet access? They have wire cutters. You have a Starband-type wireless internet connection? They have a rock or two to heave at your dish. You have wireless communication among the security nodes in your system? They can use an old microwave oven to completely jam your network for the duration. You have shutters on the windows? They have axes.
You get my drift.

The real question is, what is it that they can steal from you? If it's the software you're concerned about, buy a really beefy fireproof safe, and a bunch of removable hard disks, and lock the all of the disks down at night. Better still, have the safe offsite, and take the disks with you at the end of the day.

You do have automagic, offsite backup, don't you?

If your hardware is the thing that you're worried about losing, build out one room with as much physical security as possible (steel doors, as suggested above, and so on), and buy racks to mount the kit in, with locking doors. Minimize physical access to these servers as much as possible.

Basically, the goal here is not to make the place impossible to breach, because this can't be done. The goal is to make the risk involved in the job higher than the potential return for having done so. Time = risk, in a break-in. They pretty much know that if they're careful while they're there, and they're gone before the cops (or you) arrive, there's little chance they'll be caught. Police response time is unknown, and cannot be reliably influenced by your security measures. Your own response time has a fixed minimum. That being the case, you have to lengthen their minimum-required time to gain access, until it's longer than your longest-foreseable response time.

Anything that you can do to slow them down will make it less likely that they'll finish the job. Anything obvious you can do to make them know that it's going to be a long job will make it less likely that they'll try it at all.

In short, protect your software with backups and offsite storage and encryption. Protect your hardware with delay-oriented physical security. Buy insurance. Get a really-loud siren alarm.

-BP

 

[Master Blaster]

Several really loud sirens, and a couple really bright strobe lights, Both items inside the building and outside.

Harden and conceal the sirens, airducts are good, or real high up on the outside of the building.

These will disorient the burglars and make them want to leave pronto.

 

[standingbear]

how about disguising the safe.put it in the least flashy place(bathroom cabinet,cluttered room,under the floor with carpet over it?)those infrared detectors are nice..wire them to the lights inside.you could have a garage door opener moter power metal gates that are triggered by the infrared detector.would maybe keep em in awhile longer.take a look at how some of the prison doors are made-opening and closing.

 

[Wedge]

My father has worked a lot of jobs in a retail environment. In the last year some honest to goodness cat burglars cut a hole in the roof of his store, rappell down, steal 4 plasma screens off the wall and then go back up through the hole in the roof. They never set off any of the many detectors and were never caught on film. This was in an okay area of town.

Long before that happened, my dad worked for a lumber company. They had about 6 large guard dogs (Bouviers) that would only listen to my dad (he fed them). They were fairly (really) viscious dogs. No one ever stole anything from the lumber yard. This was in a pretty bad section of town.

People fear dogs and being bit probably more than anything else.

 

[pwrtool45]

Damn ninjas.

Forget the dogs, try these guys. Fight fire with fire and all.

 

[HankB]

Given that the building is rented . . .

Hmmm . . . if you're renting the whole building, give some serious thought to re-keying the locks. And not telling your landlord about it. If you ever move out, switch back to the original keying.

Unless the landlord tries to sneak in after hours, he'll never know.