Editor-in-Chief’s Note: Due to the recent events in Connecticut and Colorado, like many of you, I’ve been searching for answers on what can be done to prevent these kind of incidents from occurring. While this article is not meant to detract from what we see time and time again, lack of a means of defense against these threats, I reached out to frequent contributor and former IDF (Israeli Defense Force) soldier Uri Fridman for his thoughts on this.
This article was written by Uri and comes from his perspective as a now US citizen who works as an information security consultant. I’ve been very interested in the Israeli model after their procedures for handling airport security have started to become implemented at Boston Logan International Airport. Please join me in welcoming Uri back with his perspective on these recent events. Continue reading →
I’ve enjoyed a bit of anonymity here at ITS Tactical over the last few years. Bryan and the ITS staff have been very supportive of my request to keep a lot of my personal information private. Those who know me, see that I use a pseudonym on Facebook and other social media sites. Those in Law Enforcement or other sensitive fields do this to keep their families safe.
Today I’m going to step way outside of my comfort zone, as the murders that took place at the Sandy Hook Elementary School have hit me and my family very hard. Continue reading →
Staying safe and protecting your valuables when away from home should always be a priority. Like most people, you might think that your electronically locked hotel door is secure enough to keep out the unwanted. There’s no physical lock to pick and you need a key card to get in, that’s good, right?
Unfortunately, it’s not. There’s a tiny device out there that can open approximately one third of all hotel doors in seconds.
Using an Arduino microcontroller and a few other components, almost anyone can build a device small enough to fit inside of a dry erase marker. This can then be used to unlock most hotel doors, including the dead bolt, in no time at all.
Watch the NBC News Report below and see what you think. What unnerves me the most about this situation is that the President of the American Hotel and Lodging Association doesn’t feel that guests are vulnerable. His statement? They have “extra security in a lot of the hotels.” It does look as if Onity is finally starting to fix this issue though. Forbes recently shared news of their progress a few days ago but with this being one of the most popular locks for hotel room doors, it may take a while to secure all of them.
Note: The purpose of showing this is to inform the public of this issue. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security in anything you do. We’ve always advocated providing information educates on the illusion of security.
This hack was discovered by Cody Brocious who posted an excellent writeup on how and why it works to open these types of locks.
Matt Jakubowski, a pentester for Trustwave SpiderLabs, did a test at home with an Onity door lock and a device he built himself.
Image by Matt Jakubowski
What You Can Do
So now that you know how it all works, how can you secure yourself and your belongings? It’s probably a good idea to call the hotel ahead of time and find out if they use Onity locks on the doors and if they do, ask if the locks have been upgraded. Ultimately, no lock is truly safe, but staying at a hotel with a massive security breach is obviously not a good idea.
If you are already in the hotel and in the room, use the chain on the inside of the door. If someone manages to open your deadbolt from the outside (as this device can), they would only be able to open the door a couple of inches which would provide you time to call for help. Just don’t think that the chain is the be-all end-all answer, but it is an added safety measure. This obviously only works if you’re in the room.
When you leave the hotel, use the safe in the room or one at the front desk if they have them. The easiest solution is to simply bring your valuables with you. If you do have to leave items in the room, it may be good idea to hide them in plain sight. Here are some interesting ways to store your stuff when you leave your hotel room.
Do note that these aren’t truly “safes” as they don’t lock. They do however allow you to keep small items relatively secure. If you want to save money, get creative and try and make some of these yourself.
Another option is something like the Pacsafe steel mesh cabling, which covers your entire bag or pack and could possibly deter a thief. What’s nice about Pacsafe devices like the image on the right, is that it completely covers your luggage, it’s not just a cable lock that leaves the majority of your bag still exposed.
Face it though, all security is ultimately defeatable by someone or something. Take the approach that we like to mention, all security is just simply buying time…
The Jack Carbine is a purpose built weapon system developed by Haley Strategic and built by Bravo Company Manufacturing. While it’s manufactured to strict military specifications, you don’t need a clearance to own one. Each Jack Carbine will be available for purchase directly through BCM. Continue reading →
Camoclad Camouflage System has been creating a variety of large vehicle graphics for years, but earlier today they announced something new. You’re now able to get both the A-TACS AU and A-TACS FG Camo as a vinyl graphic for your vehicle.
This is a high performance vinyl graphic that can be used on everything ranging from weapons to vehicles. It can also be used on watercraft and spotting scopes and is able to withstand temperatures ranging from -65 to +225 degrees. The new A-TACS camo kit has been specifically scaled to fit large vehicles.
What’s interesting about Camoclad is that it’s not just extremely strong and durable, it can actually protect your paint job. As long as you make sure the surface is clean when you install the graphics, your vehicle will look unchanged if you decide to remove Camoclad after a few years.
If you are looking for more information, visit Camoclad.com or check out the A-TACS press release. Camoclad can help you find a dealer in your area and provides DIY tips if you’re looking to wrap your Jeep or truck with A-TACS camo.
The National Fire Protection Association states that nearly two thirds of home fire-related deaths occurred in homes that were either without smoke alarms or had non-functioning units.
While ensuring your smoke detectors are in working order is of the utmost importance, can the type of smoke detector you have actually alert you sooner than others to an impending fire?
We’ll be taking a look at just that in this article, as well as some tips on how you can ensure your smoke detectors are running at their peak performance. Continue reading →
We’ve just re-opened our Life Membership today for an open-enrollment period of one week to Plank Owners and Crew Leaders only! Click here for more info(You must be signed in as a Crew Leader or Plank Owner to view this link.)
While we’ll get into all the awesome Life Member benefits below, know that we’ve decided that this and any other potential Life Member offerings will only ever be available to our existing supporting members. There will never be a “publicly available” release.
We want to keep the ITS Life Membership exclusive and there’s no guarantee it will even continue to be offered after this year. Last year we had an overwhelming response and had to quickly close down the offering, which left many of you disappointed that you couldn’t get in.
We hope that this week-long Life Membership open-enrollment period will give each and every one of you the opportunity to become a card-carrying Life Member, without affecting the integrity of the close-knit group our existing Life Members have all helped to create. We’ve also disabled any new sign-ups of Crew Leaders until the Life Membership offer has expired, just to ensure our existing members have the opportunity they deserve.
You don’t want to wait too long though, you’ve only got a week to secure your registration and your unique Life Membership number is based on a first come, first served basis!
Thank you to everyone for all the support we receive on a daily basis, we wouldn’t be here today without it! There’s a lot to look forward to in 2013 and we can’t wait to share it with you!
At some point in the past you’ve probably heard someone say that their version of camping was staying in a hotel. I know that’s a standard response from some of my friends and family when I’ve told them about a camping trips that Bryan and I planned. I’ve also been guilty of saying that same line a few years back.
Since then, I’ve found that camping is a fun way to relax and spend time with my husband and our son. (Right now it’s one of the few things that helps me relate to our teenager.) It’s also a great way to test my skills when it comes to fire building, knot tying and surviving outside of my comfort zone. Learning to truly enjoy camping has just taken some experience and thoughtful preparing on my part, to make sure I pack what I need to be comfortable on a campout. Continue reading →
My good friend Jack from The Survival Podcast has just launched a new Website called 13skills.com, where you can sign up to track your personal skills goals.
As the Website title states, the “goal” is to come up with 13 achievable skills that you can set for yourself in 2013 and then work to accomplish them. The key is not to list things you already know about, but to really dig deep and find those things you need improvement on and what you’d like to eventually achieve.
I’m currently busy deciding what I want my 13 goals to be in 2013, but initially I know that one thing I’d like to do is finally complete my “A” License for Skydiving. I really like the premise of 13 Skills being a public way to hold yourself accountable. Continue reading →
I’ve been personally using the Cocoon Grid-It for a few months now and I’ve really grown into its versatility as a solution for storing cables and the various odds and ends that wind up in the pockets of my ITS Discreet Messenger Bag.
Despite the plethora of pockets and organization we’ve built into the bag, I still wind up with a hand full of cables when I reach into to find that specific one I’m looking for. When I first spied the Grid-It, I was intrigued, but not fully confident that it would work as I needed it to. Nevertheless, I purchased one and will share my thoughts on them here today. Continue reading →
Editor-in-Chief’s Note: Due to the recent events in Connecticut and Colorado, like many of you, I’ve been searching for answers on what can be done to prevent these kind of incidents from occurring. While this article is not meant to detract from what we see time and time again, lack of a means of defense against these threats, I reached out to frequent contributor and former IDF (Israeli Defense Force) soldier Uri Fridman for his thoughts on this.
