Blatman Posted April 4, 2010 Posted April 4, 2010 It does comes down to how vunerable you feel, and how safe you think you can make yourself To a point. The problem is that many folk feel quite safe until these sorts of vulnerabilities are actually pointed out. The single biggest problem with security is that everyone thinks they are secure enough, right up until it all goes wrong, the "it'll never happen to me" syndrome. Then, after the horse has bolted, alarms get fitted, padlocks get bought and insurance gets updated properly. The feeling of safety is a result of naievity rather than a actually taking a view of the security you have and attending to any vulnerabilities. Ignorance (of the potential) of the risks is not the best way to proceed... IMHO of course... Quote
pistonbroke Posted April 4, 2010 Posted April 4, 2010 What to do ? Apart from riding shotgun 24/7 all you can do realistically is lock doors and windows and make sure the insurance is paid up Alarms are next to useless , so many false calls no one takes a gods bit of notice these days Quote
Man On The Clapham Omnibus Posted April 4, 2010 Posted April 4, 2010 The most important individual to hear an alarm is the intruder - with luck he'll take fright and leg it. The idea is that if you have an alarm he won't try to start with. It's all about reducing risk IMHO. Make your house look like a greater risk than someone else's and you're on the right road. Quote
Blatman Posted April 4, 2010 Posted April 4, 2010 What to do depends on your satisfaction with your security and how you approach it. I have security applied to my dwelling and my cars. They are also adequately insured as my home policy lists my valuables, and my car policies are all for agreed values. Costs a few quid more but worth it to me. I have taken reasonably good steps to make my property unattractive to the opportunist. But if a pro wants my stuff, he's going to get it. So I have it properly insured and I don't have to worry about it. For me, Google Earth and social networking represent too much of a risk. Even this bulletin board, for all my 30,000+ posts, you'd be hard pressed to work out where I live or what I do for a living or when I'm home or on holiday or anything else. Security, whether it's a firewall for a PC or an alarm for the car / house, buys you TIME, not security. If it looks like it's gonna take a thief too long to get in, he'll move on for fear of being detected whilst he's trying to break in. Not that I wish to single someone out, but Bernie... I have your full name, address, postcode, a list of who lives at your address, pictures of your house from several angles, how much you paid for your house and the date the contracts were exchanged. How safe do you feel now? All that was gathered from the information you have on your profile which can be reached by clicking the Profile button at the foot of every one of your posts, so not much effort required. If I paid one of the search companies a small fee, I could get much much more... Quote
pistonbroke Posted April 4, 2010 Posted April 4, 2010 Can see where you get my name from , the rest I suppose comes from the voters register , not as if me name is smith or jones Cant see how that knowledge would induce any potential burglar to pay a visit any more than not knowing those details . Then again you didn't mention the man trap or the fox terrier ma in law Quote
Blatman Posted April 4, 2010 Posted April 4, 2010 Cant see how that knowledge would induce any potential burglar to pay a visit any more than not knowing those details . You own a Westfield. Chances are it's going to be at your house at some point. If you keep it remote and I really want it, I'll just kep an eye on the house andn follow you to where you keep it. It does happen believe me. If you've ever discussed how your Westfield is immobilised, that'll be here with a quick search too... The point is that prior to the interweb, this information was not as accessible as it is now. You would have had to go to the land registry an the council offices to get the info. How useful is it? Well, I know how many people live at your house. If I sit outside I'll know when the house is empty 'cos I can count. I know what your job is 'cos you answered that question on here, and to support th mortgage it's probably a full time job so you're out for at least 8 hours. I also know if you have an alarm I need to worry about, and I know my escape routes if I see or hear cops or neighbours poking around... OK, so that probably isn't 100% accurate but I've got a pertty good head start on things... And yes I'll be deleting these postings in a little while just in case it gives anyone any ideas 'cos even this is a bit beyond the pail. But for a brief demo of just how fast you can do it, I though it worth showing. When you start to add up all these seemingly random bits of information and really take notes, it all adds up... Quote
boris77 Posted April 4, 2010 Posted April 4, 2010 Blatman. You have given away in other posts big pointers to your profession. Also one of your past times is quite clear. I'm sure with time and some digging around, who you are could be narrowed down to a couple of people, and so similar information as you have found on others could be found on yourself. There is also the possibility of using good old fashion social engineering. If someone really wants to find out about you I'm sure they could. Back to street view, its shows an image of your house 6month-year out of date (I'm just thankful I'd cut the grass and trimmed my bushes so the place didn't look a mess). It could potentially be rather poor intelligence. Could it be used to plan an escape route, yes. But then again so could the £1.99 map I got from the petrol station. Before worrying about whether or not someone can see your house on the internet, it would be better to think about other information you put out there yourself. Quote
Blatman Posted April 4, 2010 Posted April 4, 2010 Social engineering? I hope I wouldn't fall for that The rest yes fair comment there may just be enough to work out *some* information, but you'll get less from what is held "on the internet" for me than many others who seem to not care what they publish, which is my biggest point. I'm just trying to sound a note of caution about the depth of how much you reveal about yourself. But I take your point. Actually if you are up for a challenge, I'd be interested to see just how much info you could find out about me from what you see published here. Just as an exercise in how good or bad I may have been. If it turns out I've been crap, then I'll park my high horse and eat a large slice of humble pie... And yes I realise that I have atacked this quite heavily, but my point is that it is all too easy to give away more information than perhaps some folk realise. A 1.99 map won't show how high fences are or if there are gates made of wood or mesh fencing etc etc. It's these finer details that could be important and again I realsie that to some it may not seem important at all. But those intent on nefarious conduct have a bit of a head start whichever way you shake it. I mean, how often do you replace fences / gates etc? Information is the name of the game. The more you have, the easier it becomes to reach your goal, whatever that goal may be. Quote
pistonbroke Posted April 4, 2010 Posted April 4, 2010 Blatters , don't worry so much , your nuerosis is treatable and with time and care you could become a "normal " human once more on the security front , your at least 15% right , if I thought for one moment you knew my true identity I would simply have to make a phone call to my "friends" to have the details erased . Quote
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) Posted April 4, 2010 Posted April 4, 2010 One day Blatter's is going to wake up on a mysterious island, with a morbid fear of giant white rubber balls.... Quote
boris77 Posted April 4, 2010 Posted April 4, 2010 I'll take you up on your challenge Blatman! Although 30,000+ posts, do you ever leave the computer?! If I find anything I'll PM rather than post for obvious reasons. Been told by missus I have to put the laptop down, knowing my place I better. Quote
Blatman Posted April 4, 2010 Posted April 4, 2010 Boris, thanks... I had a brief thought that you may publish here. Worryingly, I have just done an audit of my real name and got the shock of my life, so it can happen to anyone! Gadget / PB, it's not paranoia. My over riding point in all of this is that we *all*, me included, chip away at our identities, sometimes in the belief that no-one really cares. BUT, if anyone cared to actually do the research, we'd find that lots of us have answered boardroom threads that ask "What do you do?" and "How much do you earn?"and "Where in the country are you?" Plus, whenever someone asks "What camera? / What car? / What watch? / What dishwasher etc etc, plenty of us make reccommendations based on stuff we actually own. Put it all together in a searchable medium like the internet, add in pictures of our houses, detailed maps of the area with both topology and overhead photographs and the like, and chances are we have all probably given away more than we realise, me included, and I tend to think that I'm a bit more careful in that area Given what I've just researched about myself, I have no doubt that Boris will find my identity, but I kinda hope that's all he'll find out for sure. My job annd where I live will NOT be discovered accurately although for my job it'll be in the ball park. Where I live... I really hope not but we'll see! I am very interested to see the results and I trust you guys to play fair! Quote
Blatman Posted April 4, 2010 Posted April 4, 2010 I've also forgotten something important, It's not just what we reveal about ourselves, it's what gets revealed about us by others. Boris, there's a clue for you Quote
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) Posted April 4, 2010 Posted April 4, 2010 Actually, as far as the Internet/email & connectivity to the outside world in the electronic sense is concerned, I don't think you can be too paranoid. (Oh, and I cross-cut shred personal/business documents before disposing of them too). Quote
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