Ari:
Thank you for your response and your comments about me. i would never overstate what involves the safety, security and life safety on a security system. Remember there are four stages to a fire. Incipient, smoldering, flame and heat and we are talking about a Rate of Rise Heat Detector here.
Clearly, if a Rate of Rise Heat Detector was an early warning device, which it is not, besides what I have elaborated to above, the equipment manufacturers of this equipment would not note the following warning regarding the limitations on this equipment which they manufacturer and sell. It specifically states the following in capital letters, HEAT DETECTOR NOT A LIFE SAFETY DEVICE.
Similarly, no AHJ would ever provide a Certificate of Occupancy to any home if they only had Rate of Rise Heat Detectors in a premises. Needless to say, for household applications, only a Smoke Detector can provide for early warning detection. Of course, the system needs to be professionally designed and installed.
In any event, for further information on Rate of Rise Heat Detectors please review NFPA 72 of the National Fire Alarm Code and NFPA 72 of the National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, The Fire Protection Handbook, by the National Fire Protection Association and my Peer Reviewed book The Alarm Science Manual.
To give you an example of how commonplace fire attacking the data-bus wiring is; fires which start in an attached garage usually burn their way into and through the exit/entry door of the home from my investigative experience being the path of least resistance. Generally, in close proximity to this door is the data-bus wiring which connects to the keypad for this exit entry door.
I have forensically witnessed this happen time and time again and unless you are out in the field forensically investigating fire and burglary losses like I have since 1980, I would not expect you to be familiar at all with what I personally seen firsthand.
This is not dramatic, this is a recipe for disaster and in the cases where I have seen the aforementioned and when a fire starts in the wall or in the attic of a home or building, what I have found consistently, is that anytime a fire comes in contact with the data-bus wiring or the power output wiring of the alarm system, the wire always shorts. Furthermore, there is nothing else on an alarm system which is not supervised except for the data-bus wiring. Surely this defies logic.
In other words, do you think that any customer would ever knowingly purchase an alarm system if they knew that the all of the data-bus wiring which is running throughout their home is susceptible to fire impeding it, and as a result, it (the fire attacking the data-bus wiring, will instantly shut down any external dual diversity wireless radio receivers and/or any wireless radio alarm transmitters, since this equipment is required to connect in parallel to the data-bus in order for the subscriber to be equipped with wireless communications to the central station and have an app and remote control of their security system on their phone?
To that end, I have found in the studies which I have conduced that no customer would ever knowingly accept this vulnerability on their security system.
In 40% percent of the fire cases which I have investigated, the data-bus wiring is damaged by the fire. With this in mind, this is an unacceptable number. Conversely, with the Interceptor installed on the security system it will protect the data-bus from an accidental short or intentional attack 100% percent of the time.
With regards to an intruder attacking the system keypad, I have witnessed it first hand and my work as an active 18 year Designated Expert Instructor to the New York City Police Department has also provided me with other case studies where law enforcement has witnessed it as well. I have seen at least 150 successful burglaries where the keypad was attacked, and/or a motion detector was attacked and as a result the alarm system failed. In fact, I know of at least two alarm distribution warehouses where an intruder followed this methodology and was successful. Luckily, I know of one case where the intruder was caught in that when he went to sell the alarm equipment on eBay it was found out and he was arrested.
As to shorting out the system with a bucket of water, I investigated a case where I found the system keypad sitting in a bucket of water.
The data-bus attack is foreseeable and has happened across the country. Coming full circle, if the technical community of the alarm industry does not pay attention to the equipment that we select and install, including foreseeable vulnerabilities which are designed into same, more people will be seriously injured and/or die as a result of same, or there will be a loss of assets under these circumstances, and in my opinion, this identified defect is not something that the professional alarm industry should have to accept.
Imagine, if one of your customers was seriously injured or died as a result of an alleged alarm system failure and during my forensic investigation I find that the fire impeded the data-bus wiring. How are you going to defend what you knew could have protected the system, changed the outcome and either significantly minimized the damages or eliminated them?
Certainly, the alarm equipment manufacturer is not going to defend and idemnify you and your company, and while I am sure that you have insurance in force how many claims can you have before your insurance policy is cancelled, or what if the jury verdict against your company exceeded the amount of coverage on your policy?
At the end of the day, the professional alarm industry is duty bound to help protect their customers and disregarding this serious control panel vulnerability does not change anything. Besides, all alarm companies hold themselves out as experts so do you want to be that person who has to defend what is not defensible, and are you really providing peace of mind with a data-bus that is completely unprotected? The only answer is no.
I would also like to share with you what some of the alarm companies who currently buy the Interceptor are doing. They are marketing the Interceptor to get new subscribers in that they demo an exemplar control panel and short out the data-bus. When the customer sees that their system (the exemplar) and their wireless radio alarm transmitter instantly fails, by all of the on-board radios light emitting diodes turning off, the customer is simply astonished and very upset.
At this point, the new alarm company, trying to increase their RMR and to better protect the customer shows the potential customer what happens with their system once the Interceptor is installed, in that it is protected, instead of instantly failing.
Furthermore, the alarm system company either charges the new customer for the Interceptor at a profit, or installs it for free. Stated differently, how can an alarm company distinguish themselves from others, including the plethora of mass marketers aggressively offering alarm monitoring for sometimes half the cost of what the industry charges?
Many alarm contractors have found that the Interceptor is their answer, and at just $120, or less, based on quantity purchasing, the Interceptor will not only make the alarm system safer, but it will help save alarm companies the average cost of purchasing monitored systems, on average, between a 30 and 40 multiple per account.
The way that some alarm companies are marketing the Interceptor is that they show a photo of a Honeywell and/or a Concord IV keypad and state, that if you have this alarm system, you may be at risk. Ask us how we can make your alarm system safer.
The best time to limit your liability is before a loss occurs and my invention accomplishes this mission critical task. Finally, if the Interceptor saves just one life it was well worth having it installed on the security systems which you install.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeffrey D. Zwirn, CPP, CFPS, CFE, FACFEI, CHS-IV, SET, CCI, MBAT, Zwirn Corporation