Home Hacking Projects for Geeks

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Part III: Home Security

Intrusion Deterrence

Of course, intrusion detection is only useful if your security system takes

action in response to events. Typically, security systems kick off several

different types of responses: intrusion deterrence, alerting, and recording

evidence. This section covers intrusion deterrence mechanisms that will

hopefully scare away the potential intruder.

Silent alarms are good for catching an intruder in the act, because they notify the

authorities while making the intruder feel like they have successfully broken in

without activating an alarm. I’m more interested in my own safety than getting a

criminal off the streets, though, so I’d rather scare an intruder away than catch

them. If you would prefer a silent alarm, you can skip this phase of the project.

1. Install light switches

Simply turning on lights is an effective mechanism of deterring an intruder,

because it lets them know they’ve been detected. If all you do is turn your

lights on, the intruder could theoretically continue to explore your home.

However, he probably wouldn’t, because he would think he had either

tripped an alarm or that someone was home.

The simplest way to turn lights on from a software-based security system

is to use X10 lamp switches and X10 wall switches. These can be triggered

either by the intrusion detection mechanism directly, or by a secur