lunes, 1 de junio de 2020

Steps to Take When You Lose Your Transponder Key


Our locksmiths at Mequon Locksmith in Mequon, WI are called upon every day to assist a motorist who has lost their key. When you have a transponder key you know just how convenient it is. It is almost like you can’t remember what you did without it for so long. A transponder key allows you to start your car without putting physical key into the ignition. There is a chip in the key that communicates to a central computer system. This system must first recognize the chip before it will start the car. This serves as a way to protect your car from theft. If the chip is not recognized, it will not open the door. Since the invention of the transponder key fewer automobiles have been stolen. A burglar can no longer just hotwire a car in order o start it. Technology has certainly come a long way! However, if your key falls into the wrong hands, it can easily be stolen. 

It doesn’t take much for someone to lose or misplace their car keys. Life is super busy and with so many things going on in our daily lives, it would be easy to leave our keys somewhere or drop them when getting in and out of the car. If you stop to consider what you do on a daily basis, we are sure you’ll find various times when you could have easily lost your car keys. When you lose your car keys, contact Mequon Locksmith right away so that we can quickly get another transponder key programmed for you. You really can’t afford to take chances when you have lost your keys if you do not want them used to steal your car. It doesn’t matter if you have another transponder key somewhere else; it is connected to the same computer system. It needs to be de-activated and reprogrammed with a new key. We encourage everyone to be extremely cautious when they discover that they no longer have their transponder key.

Why You Should Report Lost Keys

If you report your key lost, we will be able to conveniently come to wherever you are to program another one for you. You don’t have to waste a dime on having your car towed to a dealership, who will charge you a ton to have another transponder key programmed. When you contact a locksmith, such as Mequon Locksmith, we act quickly to make sure you receive the help you need. A tow truck may take their time responding because they know that you are in a vulnerable situation. When you contact us about your lost transponder key, we act right away to install and program a new chip. 

All of this happens when we are right their by your side. As you may or may not know, using the services of an auto dealership can be rather costly. The auto dealership has overhead expenses that need to be covered. Unfortunately, you end up picking up the tab. Although this might be the first thing you consider doing, we would strongly suggest that you refrain from having your car towed to a dealership. Call a locksmith instead; it will be far less expensive. A locksmith service doesn’t usually have the overhead expenses as an auto dealership; therefore, we are able to pass along the savings to motorists who rely on us.

How to Avoid Having Your Car Stolen

When you have a stolen transponder key and you don’t report it, you are setting yourself up for a loss. You don’t know who stole your keys or if they are simply missing. It is usually best to assume the worst; they have been stolen. If you just assume you have misplaced your car keys, someone could come, when you least expect it and still your car. When you don’t report your keys stolen it is as if you are giving the thief the go ahead to take your car. If you have contractors in your home, you go to a store and begin talking with someone while your keys are on the counter, it would be easy to take your keys without your even noticing it. This is usually when motorist assume they have misplaced their keys. The reality might be that someone took them when you weren’t looking. Veer on the side of caution and report your keys missing.

viernes, 3 de noviembre de 2017

ACCESS CONTROL

Access control is nothing mysterious. It is simply controlling access to certain parts of a building or area. Folks have been using various forms of access control for thousands of years and will always continue to do so. Access control helps control crowd flow as well as act as a security and safety enhancement. Remember that last time you checked into a hotel. You didn’t go into the hotel manager’s office and log yourself in on his or her computer! No; instead you waited your turn inside the check-in line out in the lobby. In fact, that line probably had a check-in sign and a roped off area for you to stand in. 

Remember the last time you visited your local jeweler? Did you rummage through the store safe looking for precious gems? Did you get behind the glass cases and open them up to get a better look at some rings or watches? Of course you didn’t. You stayed in the customer area and only the sales staff or the management ventured into those previously mentioned zones. Why? Because you knew better and also because there were signs, locks, doors, and other barriers that prevented you from doing so.

Access control works!

Here at Mequon Locksmith, we know access control works. Why? Because our many clients have told us so! We also know from numerous customers, case studies, and examples, not only here in Mequon, WI but all over the world – access control is a much needed and highly successful way of limiting access to key areas of a building or property.

Access control is everywhere!

Now that you are learning what access control is, you’ll start noticing it everywhere; indeed, it is everywhere! When you go to a sports event, you sit in certain seats that correspond with your purchased ticket. Do you go hang out with the team manager in his office? He would probably call security if you tried! Do you go and congratulate the winning team in the locker room after the game? Access is certainly limited there!
Remember that nice dinner you and your spouse went to last night? Same situation; different location! You sat at the booth or table that the waiter led you to. You didn’t go visit the chef in the kitchen and inspect the walk-in cooler or walk behind the register area and count the cash receipts. Not only are those actions improper but you were also prevented by locks, doors, signs, gates, counters, bars and alarms. By now you have a pretty good idea what access control is and how society uses it to maintain order and better security.
You can find access control all over town and in every town! You see it in grocery stores, hotels, museums, restaurants, movie theaters, apartment buildings, office rentals, nursing homes, sports arenas, retail shops, amusement parks, banks, schools, warehouses, resorts, cruise ships, ski lodges and even military boot camps! These places and many more just like them make use of access control methods involving signs, alarms, locks, gates, security doors, badges, swipe cards, key codes, combinations, scanners, video surveillance, retina scanners, panic bars, deadbolts, peepholes, intercom, loudspeakers, CCTV and lots more!

Locks

Locks are instrumental in access control systems. They are one sure-fire method of keeping unauthorized persons out of an area. You see this in stores, government offices, medical facilities and entertainment locations. You also see locks in residential settings where homes, condos and housing units are secured for safety and privacy. All kinds of locks can be used for access control purposes including padlocks, deadlocks, cam locks, mortise locks and cylinder locks.

Badges and swipe cards

These are used more and more in both commercial and residential settings. Call centers and banks use badges to grant access to staff members and to verify employment and rank. You see badges in use in military operations, custodial staff, management and visitors. From VIP status to charity volunteers, badges and swipe cards are a strong and useful form of access control. 

jueves, 10 de agosto de 2017

Is Your Home Security System Hacker-Proof?

Image source: lifelockunlocked.com

According to AAA, more than one-third of Americans will head out on at least one vacation in 2017, many of them in that all-too-short window between Memorial Day and Labor Day. If you’re among those planning your getaway, keeping your home safe while you’re out and about is a must do. That involves common sense maneuvers like setting timers for the lights (to make it look like you’re home) and cancelling newspaper and mail delivery (to avoid signaling that you’re not), but it also means making sure your home security system won’t let you down. It may not be the panacea you think it is.

The fact that your security system is now likely wireless (and thus networked with other systems in your home) makes you even more vulnerable than you may think, explains Joe Gervais, a LifeLock cybersecurity expert. “In recent years, security researchers have done a [deep dive] into popular systems.” They found three major vulnerabilities: Criminals in remote locations (think: across the world as well as across town) can take over your security cameras to case your house, as well as see if anyone’s home. They can shut down your system, essentially disabling it, but also unlocking doors and windows. And they can jam the system so no signal can be sent out during a break in.

What can you do about all of this? Like identity theft, it’s nearly impossible to be 100 percent safe – but there are some precautions you can take.

Decide if remote access is worth it. Sure, it’s nice to have a security system with all the latest bells and whistles. Who wouldn’t want to peek in on their belongings just to be sure things are hunky-dory from across the country. But Gervais says to take your “creeper comfort factor” into account. If you can look into your home from afar, chances are pretty good a hacker will eventually figure out how to do it, too. A simpler system that alarms the doors and windows against intruders might be a better call.

Buy a good system – and keep it up to date. If you do go the higher-tech route, do your homework to determine how tamper-resistant your system is and whether it includes newer features like the ability to ferret out jamming devices. Then, as you do with the rest of your technology, make sure to install any updates that come your way; they often contain security patches. If your system hasn’t been releasing security patches to deal with trouble spots, that’s an issue in and of itself, says Gervais. (If you do have an older system you can buy an anti-jammer and install it on a phone or other device that interfaces with your security system. It will let you know if the signal fails or has been jammed.)

Make sure your network is secure… Step one is to make sure that your wireless router is set up to be secure. You do this by changing the default settings (such as device passwords and encryption).  Check the device’s security settings to make sure encryption is enabled both on your network and on your devices. And as for those passwords – we’ve gone through this before, but they should be at least 12 characters, contain letters numbers and special characters, not come together to form something you could read aloud, and used only on this important system. (A quick and effective shortcut is to use 4 or 5 random – and unrelated – words together as your password.)

…Or separate your networks. It’s simply not a good idea to have your security system on the same network as not just your computer and phone (and other devices it needs to connect with), but your baby monitor, DVR and overall Internet of Things. You’ll be safer if you divide and conquer. Put the computer, phone and other devices you use to transact on one network and the Internet of Things devices and your security system on another. You can separate the two using a VPN (virtual personal network) or activate the guest network that comes with your regular Wi-Fi device, Gervais says.

Finally, if you still have a wired system, there are a few precautions you should take as well.  Test your system to make sure it’s working before you head out of town. This is particularly important if you’ve had any recent construction done in or around your property – a cut wire may render the system useless, but not all systems are wired to let you know that has happened.  Oh, and whether you’re wired or not, it’s still a good idea to postpone putting your beach photos on social media until you return — and alert your neighbors that you’re going away.

Posted by LifeLock Educational Advisor Jean Chatzky

Article Source: Is Your Home Security System Hacker-Proof?

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