Tag: smart phone

Take an Insurance Inventory Before You Need It

After last week’s Advisory about spring cleaning, with the comments on updating insurance, I felt obliged to take action and create an inventory of our stuff, once and for all. First, I looked for some advice about how to begin. Here’s what I have discovered so far about inventories.

What goes into an inventory?

I started by looking at several paper inventory sheets that are meant to be filled out by hand or, in some cases, by computer. Here are examples.

What layout do I prefer?

What you see immediately is that there is no one format that works for every home or every business.

Determine what information to include.

What I did find, though, is that if you are doing an insurance inventory you want to include at least these items, in whatever format you prefer:

• Date of the inventory
• Item type
• Item description (manufacturer, brand)
• Where item is located now
• Cost when originally purchased

If you are doing a business insurance inventory, you will want to include this information also:

• Make/model
• Serial number
• Warranty
• Current value

Organize by category or location?

Some people lump all similar items together in categories– for example, they’ll do a list of electronics, one for books, one for appliances, one for musical instruments, etc.

Others organize the inventory by location – everything in the living room, office, kitchen, etc.

However you do it, don’t forget things you own that are not inside the home! For example, do you have items in a bank safety deposit box? A storage unit? Digital items stored only in the cloud? What about patio furniture, tools in the garage, etc.?

Just this far in, and the thought of writing it all down seems overwhelming.

So I looked into other options.

Video-tape an insurance inventory!

This makes sense. Go through the house or office, starting outside the entrance and going through every room, carefully filming everything and commenting on the tape as you go.

Depending on how much stuff you have, you may need or want to supplement video with still shots.

Here’s some thinking I did for two sample categories in my house.

Office inventory

In our office, I will start by panning around to show furniture, certificates on the wall, book cases, file cabinets and the supplies closet.

Then I’ll stop the filming to prepare the desks and supply cabinet for the REAL inventory – opening drawers and boxes so supplies and files are visible, and then taping the whole area again.

Our network setup (routers, modem, controller) is worth another whole series of shots with commentary.  Same with phones, computers, monitors and printers.

Special collections

You can guess that we have a lot of emergency supplies and equipment.  Some of this will show up in the office, but most is stored on shelves in the laundry room and two different closets!  I’ll have to go through these to film emergency radios, HAM radios, emergency lanterns, batteries and more batteries. We also have survival kits, CERT helmets and miscellaneous camping gear. Lots of stuff for the insurance inventory!

Note about collections. This I already knew! If you have valuable collections (art, jewelry, collectibles) you may want to get them appraised and add a rider to your policy to be sure they are adequately covered. Most regular homeowner policies have a surprisingly low limit on specialty items. There’s also a limit on coverage for home business equipment that may not be enough for you.

You get the idea!

In an emergency, if the house were flooded, tumbled by an earthquake or simply trashed by intruders, just these two categories alone – office and emergency — would be almost impossible for us to reconstruct without help from pictures!

Moreover, without some picture proof, we would be unable to put together a decent and fair insurance claim. And guess what – You may be asked for a list of what is missing within the first 24 hours of the incident!

Can I make an inventory using my phone?

If you are like me, you turn to your cellphone for a lot these days.  Can you use your phone to create the insurance inventory video?

Take photos.

There are apps (iOS, Android or both) designed specifically for inventories using photos. Take a picture, then label (tag) and put into a folder and file.  You can add just about as much info as you want; the app may even calculate the total value of the items in the inventory! Some apps allow you to transfer your inventory data to a spreadsheet or pdf. And at least one app creates QR labels so you can stick them to moving boxes!

As you can imagine, many of the inventory apps are free; the ones with the most options have a monthly or annual fee.

Make a video.

Since I am not an accomplished thumb typist, I looked at option 2 –narrating a video of my stuff.

Depending on the phone, the video will be limited by . . .

• how much total storage the device has
• how much data is already on the phone (programs, photos, etc.)
• what resolution video you’re shooting.  (Higher resolution takes up more space.)

Use a camcorder.

Personally, if it comes to taking pictures, I think I would opt for using a camcorder. I have an old camcorder and it fits a lot better in my hand. I can see just what I am filming. It also has a better microphone.

It used to be that camcorders were considered “expensive.” Take a look at these models – way less than half as much as a new smart phone!  (Of course you can spend thousands of dollars on high-quality cameras for film making. We’re talking here about easy-to-use models perfect for everyday – and for inventories.)

The first one is very small, very compact, fitting right into your pocket. It offers zoom and wide angle. You can choose resolution: higher resolution uses up your battery faster. You can connect the camcorder to the TV and show your videos, or send to your computer. Click on the image or the link to get to Amazon for full details and prices. Obligatory disclaimer — we are Amazon Associates.

Sony – HDRCX405 HD Video Recording Handycam Camcorder (black)

Right in the middle of my research for this Sony camcorder at Amazon, I also got an ad from a big box store for the exact same item. There was a price difference of $40!  (Amazon was the better deal; well under $200.) It pays to shop!

Here’s a second example, with more zoom power, a two-channel microphone and what I would call movie effects.  Probably more fun for family and sports videos! Again, under $200 at Amazon.

Panasonic Full HD Camcorder HC-V180K, 50X Optical Zoom, 1/5.8-Inch BSI Sensor, Touch Enabled 2.7-Inch LCD Display (Black)

Final point. Protect your inventory.

Your inventory is useless if it is washed away in the flood, burned up in the fire, or stolen along with the collectibles. Be sure to keep extra copies off premises (with a family member?), in a fireproof safe and/or saved online in the cloud.

Now I have to admit that I haven’t actually STARTED on my inventory yet. But now I know what the next steps will be. How far along on an inventory are you???

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

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Last updated 5-16-2019

Smart devices make your home more comfortable . . .

A look back to January 2018 in The Costco Connection shows “some of the smart tech you may want to invest in over the coming months.” The image above suggests 10 different smart technologies – lighting, windows, temperature, door locks, etc.

Note that I said “Costco.” This wasn’t Wired or Popular Science, which you might expect to have articles about the very latest in high-tech gadgetry. No, we’re talking mainstream — in 2018!

Moving forward to 2019, a search for the list of the top smart devices you’d want to have “right here at home” included these members of the IoT (the Internet of Things). How many of them do you have?

• Smart Speaker
• Security Camera
• Light Bulb
• Smart Thermostat
• Smart Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Detector
• Smart Home Hub

While their powerful features open the door to cyber threats.

Consider if all the personal information described in the next few sentences were available to casual hackers, the government, or criminals?

• Smart phones – Shoot 4k video so you can play it back on your TV; recognize your fingerprint as password; track your blood alcohol level; track where you’ve driven and find your car; diagnose why it’s not starting. (Is your phone synced to your home computer so all this info is transferring?)
• Smart watches – Receive text, email and tweets from friends; capture your fitness info; give you directions or track your run via GPS; lock, unlock, and start your car.
• Smart homes – Respond to voice or touch commands to adjust air and water temperature, lights, locks and cameras; “learn” family habits and schedules; report on current traffic conditions along your route to work; read and adjust solar panels; start the laundry. (Are all the devices interconnected?)
• Smart TVs – Connect to social media platforms; follow voice and gesture commands; display photos and videos from your phone.

Even if you don’t understand exactly where the threats lie, or will lie, you can recognize the threat.

How do these vulnerabilities come about?

A recent Advisory reviewed home and business security systems – all of which were internet connected — and in doing that research I read many, many advertisements and reviews. Not one had anything to say about security. But when I dug into broader background on the Internet of Things, I got a whole load of warnings.

• Like every other product, IoT products are hurried to market to beat the competition. (Think Apple.) They don’t have time to spend on developing sophisticated layers of security that interact with every other device’s layers of security.
• Device manufacturers may be as interested in selling information about you and how you use the product as in selling the product in the first place. So, the price their device ridiculously low. And they conveniently overlook certain aspects of security. (Remember the TVs that were capturing info about their viewers’ choices? And the “Talking Barbies” that stored and transmitted what the children said to their dolls? And very recently, the scandal of Amazon’s Alexa picking up on conversations in one home and sending them to another?)
• Many IoT products are complex, combining software, hardware and services often provided by more than one supplier. Not infrequently, one or more of the suppliers sells out or even goes out of business somewhere along the line. A broken link in the chain is a hacker’s opportunity.
• And IoT users – that is, us consumers – are not following smart security practices!

So what can we do to protect ourselves from these cyber threats?

Seven recommendations for your personal IoT devices as of May 2019.

1-Enable security features on all smart devices.
Not sure if there ARE security features? If the device connects to your home network, there had better be usernames and passwords that you can change from the default! In fact, the instructions should remind you to make those changes. Remember that default usernames and password combinations are published online and thus easily available to hackers. (The book mentioned at the end of this article has a suggestion for memorable passwords that won’t be hackable!)

2-Use strong passwords.
Are your children using the devices? Don’t give them an easy password so they can operate the thing. A simple password makes it easier for every hacker to break into the device!

3-Check for and reconnect or remove dead devices.
Some IoT devices are treated by the family or employees as toys, and after a while they lose interest in them. These neglected devices are precisely the ones that may provide an opening for a hacker. Take a regular inventory and clean up your IoT.

4-Schedule battery replacement.
Many of these devices operate using battery power. Batteries die – and when they do, you could cause a security risk. (Door lock won’t open? Fire alarm won’t go off?) Check all devices regularly until you know just how long their batteries will last, and then build a schedule for ongoing maintenance – with dates and numbers and types of batteries required.

5-Update firmware (operating systems) and apps.
If you find the updates on your phone or computer to be a nuisance, imagine having an entire collection of devices with apps that need updating! But it’s through updates that holes are stopped up and vulnerabilities are fixed. Watch for updates and apply them. (Not sure exactly how you’ll be notified of updates? Find out, so you don’t miss out.)

6-Be sure updates and/or network communications are encrypted.
You don’t want strangers listening in on your baby monitor, measuring your blood pressure or noting the hours when the house is empty! If your smart device sends unencrypted info across your home network and the internet, you are vulnerable.

7-Are any ports left open?
Some devices – particularly hubs or routers – need open ports to allow connections to the internet. The more ports that are open, the more vulnerable you may be to hackers. By and large, your firewall software will allow or block connections based on the profile you’ve set up. If you haven’t set up firewall software, do it. (If you aren’t sure how to find out about the status of your ports, you can get additional software to check on them.)

A next step for non-tekkies.

If you’re interested in getting a lot more familiar with IoT and IoT Security, plan on either spending a lot more time online or spending some money on one or more of the books available via Amazon or other book stores. Most of these books seem to be directed to IT professionals and have professional prices.

But here’s a fantastic book written by an expert, for ordinary internet users, in a clever and captivating way. In fact, I just finished reading it myself and HAD to put it up here!

The Sherlock Holmes Handbook for the Digital Age: Elementary Cyber Security

As a writer myself, I appreciate a story — hard to manage, sometimes, when the topic is technology. Author Alan Pearce puts you right in Sherlock Holmes’ living room in telling this story of”cyber threats right here at home” to his friend Dr. Watson.

Sherlock Holmes goes into the IoT and then takes Watson on a journey into the dark web. If you read this book you won’t become an instant cyber-security expert, but you will be a lot more savvy – and a lot more wary!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. This is the kind of information that everyone should be aware of. Please forward this Advisory to friends and family and share with your neighborhood group. If just a few people take a few actions they will be safer than they were before.