Home Security Tips from Home Alone

We're going to revisit one of my favorite podcast topics that I have ever done. Today we're going to go over the home security lessons that you can learn from the great Christmas movie Home Alone. All of that and more ahead on The Secure Dad Podcast. We are in the heart of the gift giving season. This year, consider giving the gift of privacy. You have the ability to help your family take control of their privacy online by helping them remove their private information from data broker sites.

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So let's talk about the exciting changes that are coming in 2025. Starting in January, The Secure Dad Podcast will get a new name, and the format is going to change just a little bit. Don't worry, I am still running this show, I am still the host, and there will still be expert guests. So, in a lot of ways, nothing major is really going to change. But after 308 episodes, I wanted to refresh the podcast. So, in January, the show will be called The Secure Family Podcast.

Now, I wish I could say that I just thought about, oh, I just need to change one word in the title. However, I threw out a whole bunch of different names, bounced ideas off of people, and then finally my friend Dylan over at the Creator Club was like, Hey, you're already ranking first for The Secure Family Podcast, you might as well just use that. So here we are. We're just gonna make one word change to the podcast name and that's really the biggest change.

Everything for you is going to stay the same including my social media and my website. The rss feed for the podcast is not going to change. Just in January when you log in to listen to podcasts for the first time, the show will have its new name and the new podcast artwork. So be ready. So when you open your podcast player, all the changes will be made for you. All of the old episodes will be there for you to listen to at any time.

Now this will be the last episode of 2024, as next Wednesday is Christmas Day. And as much as I would like to think that you'll gather around the fire and listen to the show with your family while drinking hot chocolate, I'm sure you're going to be busy on Christmas Day. On January 1st, I'm going to drop a new trailer for the show to introduce all the changes. Then, on January 8th, the first official episode of The Secure Family Podcast will air.

Now you know everything and you can understand why I am so excited. I hope you'll join me in January for The Secure Family Podcast.

I love the movie Home Alone, and when I was a kid, I thought it was great because of all the things that Kevin did. But as an adult, I realized that that movie was very influential to me when it comes to home security. And there's some things that I learned in that movie, from basically what the people didn't do, that has helped me understand how I need to protect my home today.

So I've talked about this before, in the original film, the leader of the criminal crew, the Wet Bandits, is Harry Lime. Yeah, I'm not sure his last name is ever said in the film, but it's Lime. So, Harry Lime. We just all gotta deal with that. Harry is fixated on the McAllister home. He tells his partner that this is the house, this is the one, this is the thing that he absolutely has to do in his criminal career. So Harry is now a dedicated attacker.

We first meet Harry, going above and beyond what the average criminal is going to do. He's impersonating a police officer in a very convincing uniform, and he is standing inside the McAllister home. This tells us that Harry has skills at stealing uniforms, or that he's a former cop. Harry uses social engineering to get Mr. McAllister to spill the beans about where, when, and how the family is flying to France.

Harry now has insider knowledge of the family's whereabouts and he's going to use that to his advantage. Today's social engineering can come from a phone call, an email, or a social media post. It doesn't have to be somebody standing in your home looking like a police officer. Be careful who you let know about your holiday travel plans. Don't assume that everybody in the neighborhood Facebook group is a good person.

You never know when somebody's teenager is gonna see your post and decide that they want to help themselves to your medicine cabinet while you're gone. And please don't post anything about travel on the Nextdoor app. The amount of information that people willingly share on that app is astounding. It could actually be an online tool for burglars. So, please don't post this kind of information online.

Another great scene is when Harry and Marv are in their van at night, and Harry points out all of the light timers as they come on for each home in the street. Harry has done his homework, and he knows the timing for each home. Back then, timers were pretty basic, but today, we have an advantage. I appreciate people's passions, but when they travel, they sometimes try to overshoot what they need to do when it comes to setting their light timers.

We're not setting up holiday light displays to flash to Christmas music here. We need to aim to copy our normal lighting patterns for when we're home. And that's it. If your living room lights come on at 430 and then don't turn off until 1130, then that's the pattern that we need to set. Don't make it look like Kevin did and have a Michael Jordan cutout on a train and this party music going because all of that looks unusual. Lighting your home simply is the best practice.

Take a day or two before you go, and note when your lights normally turn on and off. Then copy those patterns so that it looks like business as usual in your home. You can use the WeMo app or even a digital assistant to plan your lighting patterns with smart plugs. And when it comes to lighting, I have a good tip for you here. Use floodlights in your holiday display in your yard. During this time of year, it is perfectly normal to place floodlights facing your home.

So let's take advantage of this and light up the front of our homes to make it a harder target for criminals. The more light there is on the front of our home, the less attractive it's going to be to a thief. In the latest film, Home Sweet Home Alone, we meet another family that's in a hurry to get to the airport. Long story short, the person who is rushing to lock up the house is not the homeowner.

In his hurry, he yells out the alarm code and places the spare key under a planter in view of the man who would later break into the house. His name is Jeff. Jeff now knows the alarm code and the location of the spare key. So what is created is an opportunity for Jeff to commit a crime. You see, in the movie, Jeff actually tries to do the right thing, and to be a good man, because he's a normal guy. He's not a criminal.

But his life circumstances of losing a job has forced Jeff into a place where he makes a decision to become a criminal. If Jeff hadn't known the location of the spare key or the alarm code, he would not have broken into the home. But because he had that information, he thought it was easier. A family member gave away valuable information about that home's security, and a good person found it easier to target that home and commit a crime.

Jeff wasn't going to break into any other house on that street. But when he got insider information about the home, it was much easier for him to make that decision to break into the house. Don't be the reason someone finds your home easy to break into. If nothing else, I hope you see how valuable your personal information and your holiday plans really are. Don't give the bad guys any sort of advantage when it comes to your home security. The less they know, the safer you are.

Well, that's all that I have for The Secure Dad Podcast for today. Thank you, friend, for joining. Take back your privacy and personal data with help from DeleteMe. Get 20 percent off a privacy plan when using the code DAD at checkout. There's a link for you in today's show notes. Fortify your home with FlipLock. For more, go to FlipLok.com and use the discount code Secure Dad to get 20% off your entire order.

Remember, the show is changing names to The Secure Family Podcast and I'll be back with a first full episode on January the eighth. If you'd like to know more about The Secure Dad in the meantime, feel free to join me on Instagram and X. My username for both platforms is The Secure Dad, and of course, my website is available to you 24/7 at thesecuredad.com. From my family to yours, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I will see you in the New Year.