Could Posting on Social Networks Cost You Your Insurance Coverage?

It is not a good idea to post too much information about when you will be vacationing on Facebook, Twitter or other social networks. Particularly if your insurance company thinks the way two Danish insurers do, and that is if you post your vacation plans on a social networking Internet site, and your home is robbed, you risk losing any claim of compensation.

"I would advise people not to write about their holiday plans on Facebook,’ Susanne Møllegaard, the head of loss control at insurance company TopDanmark, told news bureau Newspaq. ‘It is common that people post something like “Yes, we’re off to Lanzarote for three weeks.” But thieves are keeping an eye on both Facebook and Twitter. It’s a general trend we’re seeing at the moment.’‘
This sort of information may affect your right to receive compensation if your home is burgled,’ Nils Peder Kolby, the press officer at financial services group Alm. Brand Forsikring, told Newspaq. ‘If you write that you’re in your summer house in Skagen, this wouldn’t be regarded as gross negligence.  But if you tell your friends where the key is or what the code of your alarm is, that would be another matter. If that were the case, you couldn’t be sure your claim would be covered by your insurance policy.’

Stay Safe
Oram Security
www.OramSecurity.com

How can your information be taken from Facebook?

This is a news report that BBC did on security issues on Facebook.

FBI Releases 2009 Crime Statistics

Over the past few years, we have seen a dramatic increase in the sale of both firearms and ammunition. At Oram Security we have also seen an increase in the number of female students in our Basic Pistol Class.  The concept is that during a recession you will see an increase in crime. Those that do not have will now attempt to take from those who do have.  Yet if you look at the statistics you will see there has been a decrease in violent crimes. Odd how this also coincides with an increase in the number of legally armed citizens.  Is this proof that we are safer as an armed society?  No. But it is food for thought.

According to the figures released today by the FBI, the estimated number of violent crimes in the nation declined in 2009 for the third consecutive year. Property crimes also declined in 2009, marking the seventh straight year that the collective estimates for these offenses dropped below the previous year’s total.

The 2009 statistics show that the estimated volumes of violent and property crimes declined 5.3 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively, when compared with the 2008 estimates. The violent crime rate for the year was 429.4 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants (a 6.1 percent decrease from the 2008 rate), and the property crime rate was 3,036.1 per 100,000 persons (a 5.5 percent decrease from the 2008 figure).

FBI Crime Statistics

Stay Safe.
Oram Security
http://www.oramsecurity.com/

Teacher Assigns Students To Plan Terror Attack

Throughout my 17 years in the security industry and 14 in the military, I have taken more than a few courses in Counter-Terrorism and Terrorism Awareness. The purpose of these courses was to learn about how terrorist attacks are planed as well as how to stop them in a proactive manner.
In some of these courses, as well as the Terrorism Awareness for the Security Professional that we teach, the classes been broken up into groups and been instructed to develop a viable plan for a terrorist attack. One of the big differences between having Security and Law Enforcement professionals do this verses having students do it, is that they are professionals in the industry and a security background check it preformed BEFORE the course begins.
The idea behind it is to teach the student to “think outside the box”. I believe that there are other ways to get students today to think outside the box, than to have them plan terrorist attacks. I am glad to see that the Principal withdrew the assignment as soon as he heard of it.

Published : Wednesday, 25 Aug 2010, 6:16 AM EDT
NewsCore - Students at an Australian school were asked to plan a terrorist attack "to kill the MOST innocent civilians in order to get your message across" as part of a class assignment, Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported Wednesday.The society and environment teacher at Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School in Western Australia asked Year 10 students -- aged about 16 -- to pretend they were a terrorist planning a chemical or biological attack in Australia.

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/international/teacher-assigns-students-to-plan-terror-attack-20100825-newscore

Only YOU can help prevent crime?

Most of us remember the old “Only YOU can help prevent Forest Fires” but how about “Only YOU can help prevent crime.” Although most of the responsibility for preventing crime rests with law enforcement there are still many things you can do to help prevent crime from taking place in your neighborhood. One of the easiest is to stay aware. Watch the local news and read the local papers to stay abreast of what crimes are taking place in your area. By knowing where a threat is coming from, makes it easier to help prevent it. Here are some other methods to help prevent crime in your neighborhood and towns.


• Look into starting a neighborhood watch program, or in the case of a large apartment building a tenant watch group. In areas where there are such groups, the attempts at crime tend to be lower. By placing signs up, and notifying people that it is a “Neighborhood Watch Area” criminal will tend to avoid the area.

• All the members residing in the area must be provided adequate knowledge regarding the plan of action to be undertaken in case they find a suspicious person lurking near their house. If someone sees a person who cannot be identified as a resident or a visitor, a thorough report should be made to the local authorities so that he/she can be checked out before anything wrong has a chance to happen.

• If you see someone trying to get a car to open by various means like by the usage of a hair pin or a steel scale, make sure you inform the authorities before the perpetrator can run away.

• Teach the neighborhood children what to look for and how to identify suspicious activity and what to do if they see something.

If the above mentioned points are kept in consideration, the problem of the rising crime levels can reduce to a large extent. Each one us should come forward to do our duty so that the world can become a better place to live in and your neighborhood can become a permanently crime-free zone. Contact us at OSC to learn more about setting up a “Neighborhood Watch” in your area.  info@oramsecurity.com or 914-602-2443

Stay Safe

Oram Security Consultants
http://www.oramsecurity.com/

Credit Card skimming at ATMs we know about, but at the gas pump too?

A new report says the hottest place for card skimming scams is the local gas station.

http://www.csoonline.com/article/601915/credit-and-debit-card-skimming-look-out-for-fraudulent-readers-at-gas-stations?source=CSONLE_nlt_update_2010-08-05

You worry about your children, here is a way to help others find theirs.

Statistic show that the first three hours after an abduction are the most critical in recovery efforts. By signing up for Wireless Amber Alerts you could play an integral role in the recovery of an abducted child.


https://www.wirelessamberalerts.org/index.jsp