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Stop Your Garage Door From Being Hacked

By Blog Master on 15 Nov 2015 In

For many homeowners, the garage door represents a vulnerable point of attack from nefarious thieves. The irony is that once criminals penetrate your garage, they have a sheltered hiding place in which to steal and plunder, out of sight from neighbors who could alert authorities. Some thieves are so brazen that they pull up in a truck, hack your garage door and empty out your garage, hidden in plain sight. The worst-case scenario is faced by homeowners with attached garages -- thieves can use your garage to enter your home and rob you of valuable belongings, even forming a threat to anyone at home. Yikes!

Humble Beginnings

 

Garage Door Opener Modern Garage Door Openers Are More Secure

 

Given these nightmare scenarios, it stands to reason that you will want to keep your garage door and opener secure. Today's generation of sophisticated garage door openers and remotes are available with security features that were undreamt of when openers first became available. In the bad old days, all openers shared a common electronic code that was ridiculously easy to hack. Thieves would simply buy a transmitter from the local store and, well, open sesame!

Generation Two of garage door openers allowed owners to set a unique code. A great idea for those who bothered to take advantage of it. Many didn't, and thieves continued to waltz in, unimpeded. Even if you entered a unique code, the door was still vulnerable to code grabbers, devices that stole your signal and stored it for later use. The thief could simply retransmit the code to operate the door.

CodeDodger Defeats Hackers

Today's best remotes have rolling-code technology that sends out a new code with every use. For example, Overhead Door remotes are equipped with the CodeDodger Access Security System that chooses a new code each time from a universe of 4.3 billion combinations. Furthermore, CodeDodger prevents the opener from responding to the same access code more than once -- code duplication is eliminated.

More Tips

Here are some more common sense tips on how to protect your garage door from being hacked:
1. Never leave your remote inside your car -- it's an invitation for a thief to break in and steal it.
2. Have a deadlock installed on your garage doors and use it when you are going to be away for a while.
3. Invest in a secure inner garage door, especially if it connects to your home. This means a heavy gauge, solid door with an anti-kick device and its own deadbolt. Steel doors are the most secure. The door should be equipped with a wide-angle peephole so that you can see into the garage if you hear a strange noise.
4. Consider a remotely controlled garage motion detector connected to your local police precinct for times when you will be on vacation.
5. Keep your garage door closed. Simple, yes? You'd be surprised how many trusty neighbors don't heed this warning. Why not just put up a welcome sign for your local burglar?
6. Many security-minded folks today use low cost security cameras to record activity around their garages. When a thief sees one of these babies pointing at them, they will likely just move on to the next driveway.
7. If you do go on vacation, place a padlock on the garage door's throw latch and disengage the opener. Many opener control panels have a vacation mode that puts the opener to sleep until you return home. Also, consider attaching C-clamps to the door tracks to help lock down the door.

As you can see, it’s not that hard to create a hack-proof garage door. Speak to your local Overhead Door specialist to discuss the latest door security technology.

 

Thief
It's Wise To Secure Your Garage Door

 

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