"Hi! Would you mind watching my bag for me while I run to the bathroom?"

On Monday (4/15/13) I watched a show on the Science Channel called Scam City.  The gist of the show is that the host travels to some of the most scam-ridden cities and shows you, a potential tourist, how not to get taken by being taken himself.  This episode focused on Rio de Janeiro.   In one of the scams, a local comes up to a tourist on the beach and asks them to watch his stuff while he goes for a swim. 

Unbeknownst to the tourist, while they are focused on this guy's stuff (that he's now entrusted them to watch) his partner is looting their wallets, camera, bags, etc.

This morning, I awoke from an awful dream that mixed this show with a bit of the horror from Boston.  What if, instead of dropping a bag with explosives, the bomber(s) simply asked a stranger to watch their bag for them?  I've had this happen myself more than once and have seen it happen several times to others:  A stranger, who doesn't want to take their stuff somewhere (frequently the bathroom) turns and asks you "Hey, can you watch my stuff for me while I run to the ...?"   Almost always, people say "Sure".    It's an odd interaction.  You have suddenly been entrusted with someone's belongings.  Someone that doesn't know you but somehow trusts you.   When will they return?  What if I have to leave before they get back?
Most people being honest, almost feel a sense of loyalty to this persons' belongings, which is why the Rio scam works so well.  You're focused on their stuff, more than your own. 

This well known phenomenon is also behind this well known Aly Bank Commercial

My point is this: someone dropping off a bag and walking away is very suspicious as is an unattended bag in a public place.  Someone asking a stranger to watch their bag and walking away, isn't.  And to other people around the bag(s), nothing appears odd because there is no 'unattended' bag.  While I have no evidence this happened, my sleeping brain seems to think this is what happened in Boston. 

So the next time a stranger asks you to watch their bag(s), you're going to have to ask them to open the bags and show you what's inside. 

Or maybe just tackle them and scream for the police.

TSA Arrests And Searches A 5-Year Old (And His Mother) At SEA-TAC Airport

....because someone with his same name was on the no fly list. How many people in the world share the same name? Is this really all that they're using to check people??

This is the same organization that arrested (they call it 'detained', same thing....don't let the name fool you) Senator Ted Kennedy because someone had put a "T. Kennedy" on the list (that's no joke). That should make you feel really secure, especially now that the TSA will be arresting people for having the wrong facial expressions. Wonder what's next?

Link to Video News Story

Electronic Voting Machines Suck

So says the Ohio Secretary of State according to the New York Times. But then again, who didn't already know that? These machines make 'hacking' an election so easy that changing a 1 to a zero in an Excel spreadsheet is all that is needed. Not that corruption of elections is anything new, but the rush by states to use electronic voting machines left out critical security concerns. Paper receipts would be a start, but so much more needs to be done.

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/

Security Tips For Peons

While I have no formal credentials as a security professional, I would like to offer some security tips that I have learned/collected over the years. Some of these come from reading the local police news blotter, others come from direct experience with crime. So, while going about your life, keep these tips in mind:

In the Home

1. Always keep your exterior doors and windows locked (fairly obvious, you’d think).
2. Learn about lock bumping and why (sadly) it means that most exterior door locks (including deadbolts) are not much better than your flimsy bathroom lock which can be opened with a dime. Then have a locksmith install an bump-proof lock.
   
3. Install a peephole in your exterior door if it doesn’t already have one.
4. Never open your door for someone you are not expecting or do not know. I cannot tell you the sheer number of home invasions that occur because the criminals rang the doorbell and the victims opened the door. Occasionally they will kick in the door or climb in through a broken window, but more often than not, they just knock or ring the doorbell. If it’s a delivery person and you’re not expecting a delivery, don’t open the door. Uniformed person you were not expecting needing to “check” something? A nice old man selling chocolates to buy puppies for the orphaned children of Yugoslavia? Again, DON’T OPEN THE FREAKING DOOR! Read this horrific story if you need more justification as to why opening the door to strangers is a bad idea. But the examples of this problem are everywhere.
   
5. If you have children, never, EVER let them answer the door. Of all the people in your house that should have the responsibility of being the gatekeeper of your home, a child is the least capable to take on that level of responsibility. The additional risk of abduction just adds to the multitude of reasons why children should be taught only adults can open the door if the doorbell rings.
6. Install a security system. A security system can bring you piece of mind when you’re not at home. It can even bring you a discount on your insurance. But most importantly, it can tell you what the %$@#$$ is going on downstairs at 3:18 am when you’re sound asleep in your 2nd or 3rd floor bedroom. Alarm systems don’t have to be expensive or continuously monitored. This wireless system actually works well despite it’s cheesy website (and can even call you for alerts when you’re not at home).
7. Install a keyed lock on your bedroom door and lock it when you sleep. This is critical if you absolutely cannot afford an alarm system. Kwikset makes a very easy to install keyed entry door lock. The point is not to keep someone out indefinitely. It's just to give you enough time to wake up, realize what's going on and 'activate' your plan. Speaking from experience, you never want to wake up with a stranger in your room. If you do, you’re going to wish you had installed that lock. Trust me.
8. Have a plan. This is another no-brainer. Have a phone in your room, and know that after you call 911, you will be waiting the longest 5 minutes (if you're lucky) of your life for the police to arrive. What will you do during that eternal 5 minutes? While we're on the topic of planning, have you ever thought about what you would do in a house fire?
   

In Your Car

1. When you come to a stoplight, never pull up so close to the car in front of you that you cannot drive off to the right or left. This is particularly important if it's late or if the road is mostly empty. Always allow yourself room to drive off should a driver get out of their car for any reason. A broken down car or a carjacking - you'll always be thankful for the room.
2. As in the home, keep your doors locked.
3. Carry Mace in your car (if it's legal where you live). It's always good to have if you find yourself suddenly stranded on the side of the road.
   
4. Carry a cell phone. If you can't afford a regular cell phone, pick up a 'disposable' phone and buy phone cards. For most of the US, I have found that Virgin Mobile has the best overall deal. Get a phone for around $20, and add at least $20 every 90 days, or add $90 dollars in any 72 hour period and those minutes won't expire for 1 year. So for $110 you can have an emergency phone in your car for a year. Don't forget to keep it charged.
5. Avoid valet parking like you would avoid a hemorrhaging Ebola victim. This one has me so fired up, I've given it its own post.
   

Outside

1. Always keep aware of your surroundings. Never jog with headphones...sorry, I know it's why you bought the iPod. But jogging with headphones shows a predator that you're not paying attention.
2. Carry a small can of Mace or pepper spray (if it's legal where you live...and it's not everywhere).
   
3. Be wary of talkative strangers. More often than not, these 'sudden friends' want to sell you something. Either way, you really don't want to be bothered with their sales pitch while you go about your life. Otherwise, you would have called them, right?
   
4. See #4 above, - Carry a cellphone.
   
5. Most importantly, trust your gut instinct. If you feel a situation is getting dicey, NEVER second guess it. Get yourself out of the situation as fast as possible, and prepare for the worst. If everything goes well, people might think you're a bit paranoid. If something goes wrong, you'll be as ready as you can be. I can live with that, and you can too.

In General

1. Get a P.O. Box, and have all your mail sent there. At a minimum, it adds a layer between you and all the people you must correspond with. It's also much more secure than an apartment/house mailbox. Also, many states will allow you to put a P.O. Box on your driver's license as long as your physical address is on file.
2. Use credit cards (like you would a debit, with no balance carried from month to month) instead of debit cards. As I've written about before, debit cards are like the keys to your bank account. Lose control of your debit card and life will suck for you. And while the bank may limit your liability, they're not really good at limiting the serious discomfort you will feel when you find your account has been emptied. Read here for more details.
   

Is Schapelle Corby a Victim of Circumstance?

The FBI announced today that they have arrested 18 people in a drug smuggling operation that operated out of JFK airport. During the 2 year investigation, the feds seized 90 pounds of cocaine and 50 pounds of heroin. The drugs were smuggled by airport personnel by placing packages of drugs in passenger's baggage (after security screening) at one airport then removing them at another airport, then returning the bags to the passenger.

This should send shivers down every flyer's spine. What would happen if a package was not picked up for some unforeseen reason? What if you were caught with a few pounds of heroin in your baggage? Would you use the "I have no idea how that got in there!!" line? Do you think anyone would really believe you?

It didn't work for Schapelle Corby who is now serving a 20 year sentence in an Indonesian prison for smuggling 9 lbs of marijuana in her unlocked luggage. Corby has long maintained that she didn't know how the drugs go in there and there's some evidence that she's telling the truth. Even circumstantially, it's hard to fathom he improbability of someone, on a family vacation, smuggling 9 lbs of marijuana into an Muslim country that is well known for its harsh drug laws.

In the United States, the federal government needs to crack down hard on this type of smuggling. IMHO, if an airline/airport employee is caught smuggling ANYTHING in passenger luggage, they deserve life in prison. Not so much for the relatively minor issue of drugs, but the huge potential for terrorism. How closely are they checking the "box of cocaine" to make sure that's what it really is? How much would it take to bribe them to take on a box of unknown origin?

The airline security breach in this case is massive and frightening. And you just know it's still happening somewhere.

OMG! Did you lock the door?

I have a college memory that has stuck with me to this day (and probably will for the rest of my life). I had just finished up a class and was walking down a very busy street on campus when I came upon a pedestrian traffic jam. It seems that some unlucky guy had lost the key to his (very expensive) bike’s Kryptonite lock. I’m sure he tried everything he could think of to get the lock off his bike, but had now resigned himself to hacksawing through the hardened steel. It was probably 100+ degrees and this guy was just sawing away, sweating and blocking part of the sidewalk causing everyone to have to step around/over him. This scene has stuck with me so long because at the time I remember thinking “He's probably stealing that bike, and everyone is going to, for at least a second, think that same thought." Then that thought would be followed up by a secondary thought of “…nahh…no one would steal a bike by hacksawing the lock right here in broad daylight!” To this day I still think that guy was stealing the bike.

Then a couple of years ago, it came out that all of those U-Locks were easily defeated. Not with some high-tech device, but by the barrel of a Bic Round Stic™ pen . You know, the $.10 pens that are everywhere? Well apparently if you jam the barrel of one of those pens over the tubular keyhole of the U-lock and twist, it opens just like you had the key. When I found out about that, I immediately flashed back to the guy hacksawing and thought “I bet he’s laughing about that now”.

It was a shock for everyone to find out that the security offered by the “Microsoft” of bike locks, the Kryptonite lock, was a complete illusion. More troubling, It had been an illusion since day one, but no one (or not many) knew it.

Now the facade has been dropped on another ubiquitous piece of security hardware: Your front door lock. Recently a slew of information has been published on the Internet (documents, videos, how-to's, etc) regarding the bump key. What is it you ask? It's a generic key that can be made in about 30 mins by an 11 year old and any old spare key. And with this key, that same 11 year old, with no experience what-so-ever, can open your front door lock (yes, and your deadbolt too) in about 5 seconds. Don't you feel secure now? Here's a video of an 11 year old girl with no locksmithing experience opening a Kwikset lock in about 5 seconds.

Oh, and in case you missed it, Master locks can be defeated with a beer can.

Maybe it's time to bring back the moat.

Another day, Another reason not to use debit cards

As I mentioned earlier, there are lots of reasons not to use debit cards. Today, Visa mentioned that thousands of customers might be at risk due to a "data breach", whatever that is.

I think it's going to take some hacker buying $30,000 worth of pencils with every senator and congressman's credit card before anyone in Washington pays attention.