Life For Rent

I raided Tangs yesterday and got away with plenty of good buys. Clothes aside, I got pillows, bed sheets, towels and a giant fat bolster that I’m sure it will be the favorite of almost everyone, but sorry I can’t share! Head down to Tangs for that giant bolster, it is $79 with a mere 10% discount but it was too nice for me to resist.

It is mighty exciting! Platforms have been built, and almost everything is already in place. Pictures (before and after) will be posted here, but will be protected and only those with the password can enter. Sorry, gotta screen through who sees it. I will be posting it up on facebook too, for a restricted list.

This posting talks about something I have been thinking about for the past 2 days.  As someone working in the information security realm, physical security is part of what we do too. That means, protecting my premises with a home security system. That said, before money is dumped in, a risk assessment (RA) needs to be done. After all, one MUST measure the risk (likelyhood) of an intruder, and potential loss.

So I did an RA of my own new crib, using a method known as Qualitative Analysis.

It identifies the risk, measures the likelyhood of it occurring, potential loss if the risk comes into fruition, and the cost of the countermeasure. The aim of the study is, should the countermeasure be put in place.

Here is a very simple example. Say you earn 30k a year. You decided to get insurance to protect your earnings (known as risk transfer). Would you spend 50k to protect 30k of earnings? Of course not! How bout 20k? Probably not. How bout 1k? Quite likely. If the cost of the countermeasure exceeds the potential loss, why even bother? It is a no brainer.

In my place, I have identified some risks of breakins:

- Main door (Very low risk)

- Living room window (Low risk)

- Kitchen (Low risk)

- Masterbed room (Medium risk, due to the structure of the exterior)

So the highest risk rating is medium.

Now it is time to measure the potential loss. I don’t keep very expensive stuff. Maybe some petty cash, couple TVs, laptops, that is about it. How likely is someone gonna cart TVs out of the window (if they broke in from the window, they can’t get out from the maindoor as it is padlocked and will take a lot of effort. It is not impossible though)? So if someone broke in, stole TVs and laptops, those are the only valuable items. The trick here is, how do you measure the net worth of the laptop? The cost of the hardware is negligible. Thousand bucks or so. It is the information that is stored on it that may cost a lot. Your identity. The thief has all the time to break into your passwords (if your laptop is not encrypted). The thief is likely to be able to access your email, MSN, face book etc. How many of you use the same passwords on multiple websites and applications. How many of you change your password REGULARLY? I highly doubt people do the latter. The potential loss based on that one laptop, can run real high.

Singapore is a relatively safe country, but low crime does not imply no crime. I do not work for the CIA or handle top secret info. There is no incentive for high tech robbers to come into my place. The odds are, if any at all, it will be petty thieves.

So let’s look at the countermeasures.

- Hom security (standalone) which includes motion sensors, magnetic contacts etc. This will cost around $800 but they literally last for a long time. That said, this is like keeping a dog, that doesn’t bark. If there is an intrusion how will I be notified? Sure the alarm will ring, the thief will run away and the whole neighbourhood will bear with the alarm till I get back?

- Home security hooked to a monitoring centre manned by humans. This will usually be a 3 year contract, and hardware is supplied free. Monitoring cost is estimated between 40-50 bucks a month, for at least 3 years. Do the math and you get a figure of just under 2k over 3 years.

So, what shall I do? Is it a go or no go? From a business point of view, probably not. However it is a home, where a peace of mind can be invaluable. The jury’s still out.

So if one does not install the countermeasure, what are the controls in place? Windows lock (sliding windows are terrible at proper security), locking up laptops when the premises is vacated. I do not have grills installed on my windows but when the windows are closed no one can tell if there are grills or not. So if a thief does not know if there is a grill (which makes entry a tad harder and longer
) he may decide to simply go for an easier target. By keeping the windows closed, this is called Security through Obscurity.

It is not possible to have windows always closed of course.

I have yet to make my decision. It is interesting to note, I have colleagues who have had a breakin. In a condo compound. On a high floor (mine is second story which elevates the risk). Do people only execute a countermeasure after the risk has been exploited? Funny isn’t it?

So there. If the potential loss is relatively low, the cost of countermeasure has to be adjusted alongside.

That’s Risk Assessment 101 for you. The very simple way of looking at things. Perhaps you can pick up a thing or two. What I do at work, is very much different.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.