Money magazine asks: Is your locksmith ripping you off?

By Kaitlin Mulhere

Ask a group of people to describe their memories of paying for a locksmith, and you're likely to hear a series of adjectives along the lines of "too much," "expensive," "hundreds," or "rip off."

Paying to be let back into your own car or house, like coughing up your hard-earned cash on a parking ticket or a water heater replacement, is a special kind of nuisance. But are locksmith prices really so bad? Professional locksmiths, perhaps unsurprisingly, don't think so. But even the professionals admit that the service is ripe for ripoff artists.

Google, Bing, Yahoo sued in class action Anti-Trust Lawsuit for alleged use of false information

A group of thirteen locksmith operations from eleven states and Washington DC have joined Baldino's Lock & Key of Newington, Virginia in US District Court in DC in an amended complaint alleging that the three major search engines, Google, Bing, and Yahoo which together dominate the search market, flood their search results with false listings and fictitious map business addresses.

Irish distribution partnership for IEVO

A new distribution partnership between ievo Ltd, the Newcastle-based manufacturer of biometric recognition systems, and Dublin's Northwood Technology looks set to open up the potentially lucrative Irish market.
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Locksmith known for cracking safes as well as jokes remembered

By Mary Ellen Godin

Phil Hobbs got his nickname "Drill Bits" after he successfully cracked a bank vault called the "Mosler Monster" at the former Permanent Savings & Loan, Meriden, Connecticut, USA.

The 83-year-old founder of Phil's Lockshop Inc. was also a practical joker. Hobbs died Friday after spending a lifetime helping others unlock doors, crack safes, share a laugh, and understand God.

Genes Lock and Key earns 2016 Angie's List Super Service Award

Genes Lock and Key has earned the home service industry's coveted Angie's List Super Service Award, reflecting an exemplary year of customer service to members of the local services marketplace and consumer review site in 2016.

Genes Lock and Key has been awarded the Angie's List Super Service for eight consecutive years since 2009.
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Cyber security readiness study finds widespread shortcomings

By Owen Gough

A study of 3,000 companies in the UK, US and Germany, conducted for specialist insurer Hiscox, reveals that more than half (53 per cent) of businesses in the three countries have ill-prepared security to deal with cyber-attacks.

The Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2017 assesses firms according to their readiness in four key areas - strategy, resourcing, technology and process - and ranks them accordingly. While most companies scored well for technology, fewer than a third (30 per cent) qualify as 'expert' in their overall cyber readiness.

Marks USA locks earn Miami-Dade County component approval for proven strength, reliability

Marks USA, a division of Napco Security Technologies, Inc. is pleased to announce its cylindrical and mortise locks have received a Notice of Acceptance (NOA) from the Miami-Dade County Regulatory and Economic Resources Board and Code Administration Division, and have been tested to comply with Florida Building Code, including the High Velocity Hurricane Zone - known to be some of the toughest standards in the country.
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Ex-FBI man spills on why hackers are winning the security game

Comfortable illusions about how security is working are crippling the ability of government and industry to fight the threat, a former member of the FBI's netsec team has told the BSides San Francisco 2017 security conference.

Society is operating under the illusion that governments and corporations are taking rational choices about computer security, but the fact of the matter is that we're drowning under a sea of false positive, bad management, and a false belief in the power of technology to save us.

LOCKEXPO: IMITATED BUT NEVER BETTERED

SATURDAY 4TH 0930 - 1730 AND SUNDAY 5TH MARCH 0900 - 1530

A late flurry of European companies booking exhibition stands adds a new and exciting element to this prestigious annual event. Lockexpo is now in its eighth year and the ONLY annual show for the Lock and Security industry.
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Electromechanical evolution

Jeffrey Bennett, Commercial Leader for Allegion in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, discusses why we are seeing a convergence of electronics into mechanical door hardware.

'Electromechanical' is still quite a new term in the door hardware industry, and the convergence of electronics and mechanical hardware that has given rise to this word's popularity in the industry has only recently truly taken off.
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How do organisations know who has permission to be in their building, and who doesn't?

At a large hospital in Hartford, Conn., USA, last year, a security guard noticed something about a man who was approaching the entrance to the maternity wing. He held up his hand for the stranger to stop. "The visitor badge you are wearing is no good," the guard announced. "You have to go to the front desk and get a new one."

The visitor, surprised, asked, "What's wrong with the badge I'm wearing?"
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Veracity acquisition of icomply delivers true end-to-end security system integration for Command & Control

Agreement expands portfolio of innovative, independent, security system solutions with flexible integration within surveillance, alarm receiving, incident control, reporting, building management and other applications.

Veracity, a leading provider of innovative, intelligent solutions that solve real-world IP video challenges in transmission, storage and display, has announced the full acquisition of icomply (I-Comply Ltd), the UK's leading software provider of integrated command and control security solutions. The agreement includes all operational staff, software, intellectual property, ongoing business and also icomply's sales and support subsidiary in India.
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Comelit towering above Highgate Hill

System integrator, MRFS Group, has installed Comelit's ViP system, complete with energy monitoring/display (using SimpleHome), at the landmark Vantage Point building above Archway Underground Station in north London.

Vantage Point is a 17-storey former civil service office block acquired by Essential Living, a developer and operator of private rental homes. The project underlines Comelit's willingness to help integrators by adapting its standard products to specific needs. It also demonstrates how Comelit can help end-users reduce their carbon footprint.
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Send For Help one of the first to be certified to new BS 8484:2016 Lone Worker Standard

Send For Help - the largest lone worker protection provider in the World is one of the first companies to be successfully audited against the latest version of BS 8484:2016 - the standard for the provision of lone worker device services.
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Pickersgill-Kaye on track to become a centre of excellence for rail sector

Lock maker Pickersgill-Kaye, which became a trading division of ASSA ABLOY Limited from February 1 2017, is set to become a specialist production base for the rail industry following the announcement of significant new investment in the Yorkshire business by the owner and global leader in door opening solutions.

A dedicated R&D facility and rail centre of excellence will be created as part of an overhaul of Pickersgill-Kaye's Leeds plant to help drive opportunities for the company in the rail sector through innovation and improved service levels for its emergency override mechanisms, safety critical solutions and locking equipment.
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VPS Group announce key addition to senior management team

The property solutions company, VPS Group, has appointed a G4S, Securicor and Chubb high-flyer, Ian Nisbet, to be their Managing Director of VPS UK.

Nisbet combines previous global business experience as Managing Director for G4S International Logistics and before that, Securicor Aviation, with over a decade of military service as a major in the British Army.
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Newsdesk News

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John Austen
Publishing Director
Tel:07766 707 888

Pitch-er this - your business name up in lights at Wembley

Checkatrade, title sponsors of the Checkatrade Trophy, support and raise the profile of over 23,000 professional Trades across the country every day. On Sunday April 2nd, two new members will have the chance to see their business name up in lights at the home of English football.
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Police forces' body-worn video achieves Surveillance Camera Code of Practice

SSAIB, the UK and Ireland's leading security, fire and telecare certification body, announces that two police forces have pioneered the introduction of body-worn video (BWV) technology in accordance with the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice.
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3D Group celebrates 10 years of being auto locksmith suppliers

3D Group has been exclusively providing auto locksmith parts to the trade for 10 years and pride themselves on the quality of their products, as well as their service.

In order to maintain the excellent quality that they have become known for they ensure that a sample of their products are tested that comes into their stock room. They test remote cases for build quality and durability; key blades for the quality of metal; they test programming machinery so that they can vouch for its usability.
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UNION exhibits at Lockexpo 2017

UNION, part of ASSA ABLOY Security Solutions, a UK division of ASSA ABLOY, the global leader in door opening solutions, will be showcasing its leading range of locks, cylinder systems and door closers at Lockexpo 2017, reinforcing why the brand is trusted by professionals and known for its quality, reliability and expertise.

Taking place at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham on the 4th and 5th March, visitors will be able to discuss and trial UNION's latest product innovations on stand B21.
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Drill with Skill

by Geraint Jones GJ Locks

Sister-publication Locks and Security Magazine has some amazing articles in this premium Pre-Lockexpo edition

Drilling mortice locks has always been frowned upon by most, described as "The Cowboy" method or what an unskilled locksmith would do. Despite what the keyboard warriors on the many locksmith social media groups might have you think, it is how most of us started. But if you learn how to do it properly, you will soon see that it is a skill worth taking more seriously.

www.lasm.co.uk

Mitie's security management business launches inaugural thought leadership event

On Thursday 9 February, Mitie's security management business held its first thought leadership event at the Institute of Directors in London.

Titled The Kurtzman Club - after Joel Allen Kurtzman, the founding Editor-in-Chief of Strategy + Business magazine, who first coined the term 'thought-leader' - the event brings together leaders and influencers from the security sector to look at the future of security and challenge the status quo, to steer and future-proof the industry.
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