E-Hacking: Is Your DIY Home Security System Susceptible? 

June 27, 2022

Normally, ‘to jam’ is a good thing. Jamming to your favorite song or enjoying some homemade strawberry-rhubarb jam on toast. In this case, however, you want to avoid jam because it means your DIY home security system has been hacked. 

What is Jamming?

Intruders use a laptop, a portable radio frequency (RF) transceiver and the name of your DIY security system to block signals from your door, window, and motion sensors. With the signals drowned out (jammed), the alarm will not sound, police will not be dispatched (if that’s even an option) and your home will be vulnerable to a burglary or other crime. 

Another form of jamming is the replay disarm signal attack. It’s a bit more complicated and risky but hackers are able to capture and record the disarm signal from a keyfob and then broadcast it later. This allows them to disarm your DIY security system using the same tools as the jammer. 

Even if your DIY security system has a jam detection feature and you get an alert that your system has been jammed, the alarm still won’t be triggered and the authorities won’t be contacted. The home is now vulnerable to an intruder with the proper equipment and knowledge to enter, roam through at their leisure, and exit with zero detection or repercussion.

 

Why Go with a Professional?

Consumer Reports tested the most popular DIY home security systems and five of them were easy to jam. 

The ability to be hacked is a design flaw that you don’t have to worry about with a professionally installed security system. Per Mar’s home and business security systems are jam-proof and encrypted (which means burglars cannot eavesdrop on wireless signals). These protective measures are necessary to keep you fully safe and secure.

Not to mention, DIY systems don’t typically come with their own 24/7 monitoring service which is the real peanut butter to the jam you’ll find yourself in if there is nobody to call the authorities for you in a hostile burglar situation, house fire, etc. We’ve written about this and other DIY dangers in the past

Contact us to walk you through hacking and the many other downsides to DIY home security systems. We’ve seen and heard it all!