[For lainzine editors: please feel free to edit the formatting as much as you want, if there is anything, you can ring me through this email address] PHYSICAL SECURITY, or how to save your ass (and soothe your paranoia) after screwing up on the wired. Alright, let's not pretend you never took a random, bored look at your front door, windows or even backyard and realized,"fuck me, my bloc is so robbable", at some point in your life, or saw someone else's house and said "shit, all I have to do is hop that one meter tall fence and I'd be in that guy's kitchen". Have you ever wondered what would be the first thing you'll do if you hear at 3 AM the sound of your door being kicked down, or your window getting crashed? Whoever is making the noises is sure as shit not friendly. Truth is at least 90% of places, be it lower, middle class or even a mansion, are so easily penetrated/infiltrated that it's not even funny, they need some serious security work. If a competent, well-equipped individual wants to get in and you haven't properly built your sandcastle, you're screwed. The advice and recommendations in this article range from quick-and-dirty house-hacks all the way to grade A paranoid modifications, pick and apply what you want. BEGIN I. Your enemy: //"so you're telling me a couple of guys in balaclavas picked your lock and tried to kill you with suppressed handguns at 3 AM?" You gotta start by knowing your enemy, don't worry, this article will cover (almost) every type of crook trying to rob you, bash your head, or rob you then bash your head, from the bottom to the top of the food chain. It could be a burglar high on meth, someone you pissed off trying to settle a debt, a group of thugs, professional burglars, god forbid cops or even the fucking Mossad. out of all these, who's most likely to try and mess with you? II. The setup: Expect to spend a hefty amount of money, the more protection you want, the more it'll cost you. It's not all about what you buy, it's about HOW you set it up. Let's assume you're an average guy in an average middle/lower-middle-class neighborhood with no protection whatsoever aside from your basic door locks. There are three types of domains we're covering, surveillance and detection, countersurveillance, and entry denial. 1.SURVEILLANCE/DETECTION: A. Cameras //"that 10 dollar baby cam ain't gonna cut it." The most basic and essential gadget is only as good as you set them up >Which ones should I get? Depends on your budget, but night vision is mandatory, most people would be fine picking up 30-50 buck pieces //unless you're one of those guys who want ultra high-quality cameras to set up in their roof and spy on the whole neighborhood, hehe. >Wireless cameras? NO. >How many should I get and how do I set them up? Depends on your layout and how big your place is, the only rule of the thumb that I can provide is "try to not leave any blindspots but don't install too many cams", that means one in your garage (if you have one), one or two in your front yard (depending on the FOV (Field of Vision) and how large your yard is), one in your backyard (if you have one) and maybe one more camera pointing at the street/neighborhood. Indoor cameras are pointless, don't waste your time and money on them unless you live in a place larger than castle Windsor. Now, how and where you set up your cameras determine the performance and the result, you might leave them naked, sure, that might work as a deterrent to the average burglar, but you're out of luck if the guy is determined enough or professional enough (yes, there are some techniques to avoid being recognized on cameras or even completely bypass them), they might even get destroyed, so you might want to conceal them, whether you want them hidden is up to you. >Any techniques for hiding cameras? One way mirrors, the attacker sees nothing but a mirror, but behind it is a camera that records and sees him. Behind/inside plants, easy but you've got to know how to set them up, a trained eye can spot them unless you've done it well. Micro-cameras/"spy" cameras, they're well hidden but I do not recommend using them (the quality is garbage, they're not suitable for viewing at a distance) unless you're setting them up as some sort of door lens. You can also get creative, I set up my cameras inside PVC pipes, making them look like roof drains, nobody's gonna suspect a damn thing, however, this reduces the FOV. Thermal cams are not worth your money unless you live in a literal forest. Now that's cameras done with, go get yourself a decently sized screen, a cheap PC and (hell even a raspberry pi could work), a hard drive, a network switch and a bunch of long ethernet cables, you can use a DVR box instead of the machine/raspberry, make sure to set it the screen near your workstation. Always keep the screen on 24/24, cameras are worthless if you do not look at the feed. B. alarm systems //"ol' boomer Maurice thought his 500 bucks security system alone's gonna protect his ass from an angry mobster with a crowbar and a shotgun, RIP." Also essential, all of them work, from the basic cheap manually activated magnetic door/window alarms all the way to the cushy expensive alarm boxes you see in banks. I recommend the very cheap, small magnetic ones because they're so easy to use even a monkey can set them up, the expensive alarm boxes are such a pain in the ass to install, very tedious and wastes a lot of time but have the same effect as the 5 dollar magnetic alarms. I do not recommend setting up alarms in windows, they're pointless and you're gonna waste time setting it up for every window in your place. C. seismic sensors //"we hi-tech now baby" Expensive, also a hassle to set up, might ring some false alarms, but could be useful if you have a large perimeter (a gigantic yard, etc) D. dogs No. They're a hassle to get and train, expect lots of false alarms, you have to take care of them a lot, just no. E. laser alarms Bought ones are pretty easy and cheap to set up, but they're only used indoors if you place them outside expect false alarms. You can even make your own using Arduino. There are other archaic and non-conventional surveillance/detection systems such as motion sensor activated lights (guaranteed to freak out any intruder) but I won't get into that because they're too expensive/complicated and the things mentioned here should suffice for 99% of people. 2.COUNTERSURVEILLANCE: Any professional crook (or cop) worth his salt will try to case/recce your place before going in, he's going to look for alarm boxes, dogs, ways to get over fences and doors, any vulnerable windows, even your schedule, and place layout. This section is dedicated to depriving him of information as much as possible, making him walk inside blind as a bat. A. one way mirrors as window glass The oldest trick in the book, replace your window glass with one-way mirrors //you can see them, they can't see you. Mosquito networks too, but only in the day, it's cheap, might as well add it //you're not gonna lock your windows 24/7, right? B. strong projector lights/floodlights //the hell's up with that guy? his house looks like a military base. Ever tried to look and focus at something but all you see is nothingness because bright light is aiming at your eyes from that spot? That's exactly how this works. You can set these up on top of your walls, on top of exterior windows, on roofs, just make sure they're pointing exactly at the street or the street walks, the stronger the lights are, the less they can see, only usable in the late evening/night and make sure you provide good protection for them. //Oh God, the electricity bills. C. exterior modification Higher up those walls, 2 meters is okay, but 2.5 is the sweet spot for me. 3.ENTRY DENIAL //"You picked the wrong house, fool" A. door fortifications Doors have several components, the hinges, door itself, door frame and lock, they're only as strong as the weakest component So if you're going to upgrade your door, upgrade every component or do not bother at all, a guy with a crowbar will screw you up, a steel door won't do shit if your hinges or frame are weak. B. window fortifications Install some decent security film, it will also work as a one-way mirror, install iron window bars C. door bolts Cheap, easy to install, primitive, worth it. D. barbed wire along the walls also cheap, you can electrify it, might be illegal where you live though. III. Notes: 1.Window bars here and there, a couple of cams and some barbed wire will the suggest that the guy living inside does not fuck around, will deter burglars and most criminals 2.Nosy neighbors are useful if you know what I mean, but don't rely on them. 3.For the love of God, protect your breaker box and wires, all your fancy electronic security measures are worthless if they're not powered. 4.Guns, if you can get one, get one, just get a handgun (and LEARN how to use it) and a attachment good flashlight, good-but-cheap ones are around 100$ range, oh, and get yourself some eye/ear pro, you really don't want to blind and deafen yourself shooting an intruder at 3 AM. 5.If you can't get a gun, get a taser, if you can't get a taser, get the biggest knife you can get your hands on. 6.Body armor, soft armor should be good and cheap enough, will stop handgun rounds and buckshot. //you should wear armor al the time, it'll prevent you from getting stabbed in the gut or shot if you're outside. 7.If you're scared of cops, get yourself a secondary exist, backyard door? maybe even a fucking tunnel? your choice.