Lockouts? You Think You Can Handle Them Alone? No, No, No!

When you are hoping to maximize your travel security, one of the most obvious places to start is with buying a lock. But how secure are luggage locks? The disturbing truth is that luggage locks are terribly insecure.

What does the insecurity of these locks mean for your luggage security? How does that affect the protection of your property? In order to investigate these issues, we will have to venture deep into the terrifying truth about luggage locks.

What security do TSA locks offer your luggage?
TSA locks are not secure. The shackles can be cut by most low-quality diagonal cutting pliers, the lock cylinders can be picked open with very little skill, and the schematics for the master keys have been revealed to the public. If you are using a TSA lock, you are getting the illusion of security.

The biggest benefit to using TSA locks is that the TSA can open your bag without having 24/7 business lockout. This still might not keep your lock from being cut off, as many travelers report having TSA cut locks off regardless of having been TSA approved. But at least there is a chance that your insecure lock will not be broken open.

A TSA approved padlock is the next step up from a zip tie. It provides the same amount of initial security if you are worried about criminal tampering. However, a TSA lock can potentially be taken off and relocked on the bag, where a zip tie cannot be reattached once removed. With a TSA approved lock, after a lawful search, there is a chance that your luggage can maintain its same level of “security”.

1. The TSA Can Remove Any Luggage Lock Without Cause
If you are checking luggage, the TSA reserves the right to open your baggage by the means required to properly carry out the search. In case you have not received a “Notice Of Baggage Inspection” letter in your checked luggage, it reads as follows:

To Protect you and your fellow passengers, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is required by law to inspect all checked baggage. As part of this process, some bags are opened and physically inspected. Your bag was among those selected for physical inspection.

During the inspection, your bag and its contents may have been searched for prohibited items. At the completion of the inspection, the contents were returned to your bag.

If the TSA security officer was unable to open our bag for inspection because it was locked, the officer may have been forced to break the locks on your bag. TSA sincerely regrets having to do this, however TSA is not liable for the damage to your locks resulting from this necessary security precaution.

The note goes on to suggest that the recipient of the inspection notice refer to www.tsa.gov to find “packing tips and suggestions on how to secure your baggage during your next trip…” Is it ironic for a note telling you what you just read to recommend that you use better security next time you fly? It may seem that way, but the spirit in which it is intended is that locks are not security, knowing what is going to get your bag flagged is the security you need for avoiding TSA attention.

2. Every Luggage Lock Can Be Opened
It is true that every lock can be picked, even locks that have not been picked yet can still be opened. Opening methods that travel security professionals use are almost always destructive. There is no lock that exists that can withstand every type destructive entry method given an unlimited amount of time with the lock.

Not even the best padlocks in existence can hold up to the highest level of pressure that can be applied to them. Do not expect that your security can keep out any law enforcement. Even though you may be hoping to avoid criminally minded baggage checkers, they are within their right to open your luggage at all costs.

Though there are documented cases where strong enough security has been enough to have TSA give up on trying to open it. I don’t fully understand the implications of security that has law enforcement give up, but I would not expect to be the exception to the rule that if the opening of your bag a legally sanctioned it will be carried out.

In terms of criminal threats without the full force of the law behind them, your locks can still be opened. However, when it comes to standard criminals you have to consider every aspect of luggage security and not just the security of your luggage locks.

3. No Luggage Lock Can Protect a Zipper
Any luggage lock that is placed to secure a zipper is completely useless. Anyone with a ballpoint pen can puncture the zipper track (aka teeth). This gives anyone access to the contents of your bag in seconds. Once a person has rooted around in your belongings, they can then move the zipper’s pull tab over the open teeth and reseal the bag without any sign of entry.

If you have an anti-puncture zipper, then your zipper is safe, but a lock can never protect the zipper. When you want a lock to matter at all, you have to use luggage that has hasps, not a zipper. Hasps are common on hard shell cases, which are intended to protect the contents of the luggage.

It is also unlikely that you will end up with a bag that has an anti-puncture zipper if you do not go out of your way to purchase one. This feature is not common, in spite of the fact that the method of entry is extremely popular for criminals all over the world.

4. Your Bag Undermines the Security of a Luggage Lock
Security is not the main concern for standard baggage manufactures. Unless the luggage has been designed with security in mind, the lock you place on it is not going to matter much at all. Besides zipper protection, you have to be concerned about more brash criminals that will not care about surreptitiously or even covertly open your bag.

A very common method of entry that criminals will use is to cut your bag. You made need something like a Pelican case. With a light slice from a sharp knife, a thief now has access to everything in your luggage. Unless your bag can resist cutting, having a lock on your bag is not going to truly protect the property inside.

Most likely your bag is always going to be easier to break than an incredibly strong lock. It does not make sense to have an extremely powerful lock if the case it is securing is itself insecure. Be aware of the level of protection provided by the bag before you make any investment in a lock.

5. Built-in Luggage Locks Are Not Secure
Built In Luggage Lock

This is a guiding principle more than a hard and fast rule, but it is important to think about the fact that almost any piece of luggage you buy is not going to have high-security locks. This might be something that the case claims, but you need to know better than to believe the advertising.

Even if the brand of security being used is not notorious for manufacturing subpar locks, it might still be something cheap and ineffective. A lot of times locks on cases and luggage will claim to be high-security, but they are just using a novel lock type. Such lock types that are used as built-in luggage locks include tubular locks, cruciform locks, and disk detainer locks.

If a lock is poorly made, it does not matter what kind of internal components it has. Poorly made locks are not secure. They break easier because of the lower quality metal, and that means they can be broken open easier. Mass production required to place them on luggage also car door lock change very simple to the point where most of these locks can be opened with bypasses or improvised keys.

What is the best way to protect luggage?
As you may have learned from the article about protecting your beach bag, the best possible way to protect any luggage is to keep your eyes on it. This is not going to be possible at every point of your trip, especially if you have to check your bags. The important thing is to take advantage of the instances where you can watch over your property.

Your locks need to take as long to open without permission as the average time you will leave them unmonitored. As has already been established, flying in the United States will be the exception to this rule. Law enforcement will have too much time with your luggage, and they will have the authority to open the lock. But for deterring criminals, this type of security assessment is a must.

Final Thoughts
It doesn’t matter if you are in one of the most dangerous countries in the world, or you are sleeping over at a friends house in the next town over, when you have luggage, you will attract the attention of criminals. Luggage locks are not going to do much to protect your bag. You need to consider a lot more than just luggage locks.

Moultrie Panoramic 150 Review

Moultrie Panoramic 150 is the only camera on the market that offers a panoramic photo. So you don’t need now to mount three separate cameras to cover all that wide area, this cam will do all the work. It captures three images and then combines them into one. This is no doubt the future of all trail cameras. This might not be the best camera on the market, but in its price range it’s definitely one of the top cameras to consider. Its reasonable price makes it a great trail camera for hunters who are not ready to shell out a ton of cash. This MOULTRIE PANORAMIC 150 GAME CAMERA review will take a look at all the features of this cam, how it works, the quality of images and the life of the batteries.
Detection Circuit

One of the main benefits of this trail camera is its detection circuit. It offers incredible width and significant length. The camera features three Passive Infrared Sensors (PIR). Each of them covers a 50-degree detection zone. So you get in total of 150 degree detection range. It comes with a silent swivel that rotates the camera lens in the direction that the motion is detected.

The motion sensors are able to detect any motion within 45 feet. But the camera is also equipped with 30 LEDs for capturing the images at night. Its detection range goes to as far as 100 feet. Additionally, Moultrie Panoramic 150 is designed with No Glow technology that makes the camera minimally intrusive and almost invisible to the human or animal eye.

To increase the battery life of the unit you can choose the 1 shot mode that works by capturing only one image in whichever zone motion was detected. Each of the sensors will work independently and just the lens will pivot in the direction of the motion. So you can capture the image of the animal in any of three directions.

In addition to photos the camera can also record 720p videos at any time of day, both day and night.
Trigger Speed

The Panoramic 150 is armed with a 1 second trigger time. So it quickly captures anything in its path. The recovery time can be adjusted to suit your needs. It can range from anywhere between 5 seconds to 60 minutes. So if the camera is located in a high traffic situation, selection a longer motion detect delay will help to save battery life as well as storage space.
No Glow Technology

This feature is extremely helpful for keeping the camera as less intrusive as possible. This technology uses infrared flash, but it emits minimum of red light. So the camera stays virtually invisible to both humans and animals.

A Fix-and-Flip Business-Buying Checklist

One alternative to starting a business from scratch is to buy an existing business and turn it around -- a method that may help you redefine your own thoughts of what a "startup" could be.

The past few years have been very profitable for entrepreneurs with an eye for turning around existing -- but underperforming -- operations, limiting their own risk while leveraging resources that already exist in the business.

Business-for-sale transactions increased in 2012, according to business brokers surveyed by BizBuySell.com, the online marketplace for buying or selling small businesses, and they expect even more businesses to change hands next year. Nearly two-thirds (61 percent) of survey espondents said that there was an increase in business succession in 2012 and about 57 percent forecast a continued rise next year.

10 Questions to Ask Before Selling Your Business

If you’re thinking about selling your business, think twice. Selling a business should never be a spur-of-the-moment decision, says Curtis Kroeker, group general manager for San Francisco-based BizBuySell.com and BizQuest.com, business-for-sale marketplaces that have an inventory of about 40,000 businesses. "You need to figure out things like if you should sell, when is the best time to sell, and what you need to consider before selling, among many other considerations."

So, should you sell your business? Here are 10 key questions to help you figure it out.

Start Now to Prepare to Sell Your Business This Year

If so, here’s some good and bad news.

First, the bad news. If you’re looking to sell right away, you probably won’t get full value, as it takes a good year of preparation to sell before you actually put your company on the market.

The good news? A lot of businesses have changed hands in the past several years, and there’s a fair amount of money sitting on the sidelines looking for good deals.

Plus, if you actually take the time to prepare your company for a sale, you’ll more than likely jump to the top of a buyers’ short list, simply because most sellers don’t do the proper “prep work” to make the sales process easy and transparent.
So how can you best set yourself up to win when you sell your company? Here are some tips to get you headed in the right direction to receive the best value for your company by the end of the year.