False Sense of Security

As we travel through our everyday lives, I believe we live in a world filled with a false sense of security. It is like a warm blanket that nothing bad will happen to us if we take the most basic security tactics to protect ourselves.

I had that belief for a long time, but was completely unaware that what I thought kept me secure along with my belongings, was totally naive. Nothing speaks to this more than when my car was recently broken into and my office bag with my laptop, my birth certificate, and my W2 was stolen.

Immediately, I thought how stupid was I that I left my valuables in my car. Then, I started to think while I waited for the police to arrive; how did this happen? How did the thieves see my bag as it was black and hidden very well in the shadow of the front seat floor? I eyeballed where I placed it and you could NOT see anything. Then I thought, why didn’t my car alarm go off? I clicked it before I left. In fact, I clicked it like five times as it’s a dumb habit of mine…Or maybe my OCD. I stood there thinking, wait a second, I parked right next to the restaurant I was going to…why didn’t anyone hear or see someone break into my car?

All these questions ran through my head in a matter of seconds.

So, it obviously couldn’t be my fault. I did everything I needed to do to protect my stuff, I thought to myself to make me feel better. But deep down I knew it really was my fault, but, part of the problem was that I was living with a false sense of security. Believe it or not, I really thought I did enough to protect my belongings.

When the officers arrived, they took my information and asked what happened. I explained that I parked my car, hid my bag, and locked my car with the alarm. Still trying to figure out the situation, I asked the police officers, “How did they even see my bag?” It was hidden really well and you could not see it looking through the window. The officers replied, “Well, sir, they had a flashlight and could easily spot it.” I thought in bewilderment, yeah that makes sense.

Then I asked them, “Why didn’t my alarm go off when they broke my window?” After all that’s why I have an alarm. One officer quickly replied, “Alarms only go off when the door is open. Windows generally don’t have sensors, sir.” Oh, ok..yep again that makes sense.

Grasping at straws, I looked up in the air and asked, “Well how come no one saw them breaking into my car?” “You see this boarded up side street there…this blocks all vision to your car,” stated the same officer.

Wow! Was I ever careless in my assumption that I had everything secure. Like a punch in the face I realized that I was a complete knucklehead. All it took was a flashlight, a medium sized rock and me parking next to a boarded up side street to negate all my so-called security measures that I thought I put in place to protect my property.

Now most of you reading this might say, this guy really thought hiding his bag and locking the door would really keep his bag secure….he really is a knucklehead. And I agree with you. However, I believe most of us do things like this throughout our day, hoping and thinking measures like this will keep us and our belongings secure.

I tend to believe that most of us have a, “this won’t happen to me attitude”. A good example is how many of us have a weak passwords that we use for every login including our banking apps? Or how many of us leave the key to our house under the welcome mat? Can someone easily prey on our perceived notion of security?

I was lucky, I had my computer locked down, most of my stuff is web-based (easy to change passwords) and I have Safelock to protect my identity. That being said, lesson learned. I now carry my bag with me at all times, I park in more visible areas, and I have since changed and strengthen all my passwords just to be on the safe side. I will no longer live with a false sense of security.

So now, I would like to hear from you! What other everyday security flaws do we have that you’ve noticed or been vulnerable too? I’d like to also hear about ways we can help each other. Let’s have fun with this on my behalf. :)