Security is Never Convenient or Yada, Yada Security

My family and I just returned home from a trip. One of my kids just got married.  We were leaving a hotel on the trip and it was raining.  I pulled the car up to the door so we wouldn't have so far to go while loading the car.  As my son held the door open while I returned the cart he noticed a plastic card stuck in the door jamb.  He mentioned it to me and I pulled the card out of the jamb.  Someone had probably stuck the card in the lock set striker so they could go in and out the door without using their key card because the door locked automatically.

I thought about that as we were driving from the town we had just stayed in.  It's usually not real convenient to be secure.  I've seen it where I work.  I work on a Federal installation and we have been in  particular FP (force protection) for many months.  When you do the same thing over and over for a long period of time, as humans we tend to get bored and not be very vigilant.  You get lax in your keeping of certain protocols and following certain steps. This I like to call " yada, yada security".  I believe it's a good idea to make variations in your security steps so you won't get tired of doing thing over and over.  For instance, if you go to work the same way every day, even if you are being security minded, you may fall into "yada, yada, security".   Whatever you do daily for security make sure you build in some variety.  This doesn't mean you stop doing what you have planned, it means you plan to do the same thing in a variety of ways so it won't become mundane.  I like to check our key lock system every few months to make sure all locks are in place and primary and spare keys work.  We have a lot of locks for a variety of things on our homestead.  I try to check them differently each time I do it.  By doing the same check a variety of different ways, I've found different little things, or flaws in our system.  Variety in security is good.  So is randomness.  Being random will keep whoever is your "enemy" off balance.  Doing routine security tasks at random times will also keep you sharp and will help you find holes in your security plan.  Even if you have security measures in place, test them.  We were staying in a motel once and opened a window.  That was when we realized the window had no lock!  You may think your security measure will do what you intend, but unless you test it, you will never really truly know if it works.  The same goes for preparation.  Test out your contingencies you have prepared for.  Only then can you be sure that they will work.  Also, when testing and bringing variety to your security, you keep the importance of what you are doing in the forefront.

Remember complacency kills!

Plan. Plan variety. Test your plan.  Don't get caught in the "yadda, yadda security" trap.

Semper Paratus

Burn