Category Archives: Neighborhood Security

Be On The LOOKOUT for License AAK 0463 (Currently on a White Honda with a Black hood)

Neighborhood Security, Safety

This week Bad Guys driving a White Honda with a Black hood entered Shawnee Ridge around Midnight and stole a package from the doorstep of a house on 111th St. Court E.  The vehicle was seen on cameras from two houses in the area and working backward from the information provided we were able to positively identify them as having license plate AAK 0463.  Vehicles using this license plate have been identified in several incidents of theft and vandalism in our area.  Police report that they do not have an address connected with that license plate and it is presumably stolen.  Two of the case reports associated with this vehicle are #  1730100721 and # 1808501544 (or it might be 18045014544, the Deputy’s writing is unclear)   .

Because this incident was reported to the Sheriff’s Office as a repeat incident involving the same vehicle license plate, a Sheriff’s Deputy was sent out to take a report.  Unfortunately the home from which the package was stolen did not have cameras, so there was no direct evidence that the people driving the Honda (AAK 0463) were responsible for the theft.  All the Deputy could do was take a general report.

This incident did show that cooperation by neighbors who have cameras works.  We were able to identify the vehicle and get its license plate because we had pictures of the vehicle and a definite time it was in the Neighborhood. When more people have cameras, everyone benefits.

For a look at previous post about this license plate see: Tis the Season “to have your packages stolen”  &  –ALERT– Recent Suspicious/Criminal Activity In Our Neighborhood.

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DANGER –“Trike Drifters”–DANGER

Neighborhood Security, Safety

Our Shawnee Ridge neighborhood is occasionally visited by a group of young men
who are “trike drifter” enthusiasts. (check it on google and YouTube) They bring their
homemade tricycles to the top of the cul-de-sac on 111th Street Court East, mount up,
and go down 111th St Ct E, turn right on Shawnee Ridge Rd, turn left on 136th Ave E,
turn right on Jennifer Ct E, spin out in the cul de sac.
This last Sunday, January 14, they showed up for their joy ride around 12:30pm. An
SUV dropped off 3 or 4 young adult men and 3 or 4 children, all wearing helmets, and
all with these trikes. I confronted them as I have the previous times and tried to
convince them how dangerous their activity is.
This is the 4th time in 4 years I have witnessed them coming to our neighborhood to
“trike drift”. What they are doing is very dangerous, for them, and, in my opinion,
potentially very dangerous to pedestrians and bystanders. These “trikes” are built with
a wide wheel base and low to the ground. It is almost impossible for cars to see them
approaching intersections and bends in the road because of their low profile as they are
coasting downhill as fast as they can. Parked cars along Shawnee Ridge Rd create
blind spots along that stretch. They seem to have very little capability to slow or stop
quickly, and they do not, probably cannot, yield the right of way to vehicles, bicycles, nor
pedestrians.
They also disregard common sense when they are shuttling “trike” riders to the top of
our street. One time, 2 of the riders were in the trunk of a small car with their legs
draped over the handle bars of the “trikes” towing them to the top of the hill. Another
time, 5 or 6 men and their trikes were in the back of a pickup truck.
This most recent occurrence is the first time I’ve seen children involved. It was hard
to guess ages with helmets on, but they looked no taller than 10 year old children. The
driver of the shuttle car said 2 were her children. I could not convince her how
dangerous and irresponsible this was.
They insist what they are doing is legal, but doing only 2 or 3 quick rides and then
leaving speaks otherwise. They come in to the neighborhood fairly quietly and leave
rather quickly. Most people don’t notice them unless they happen to be outside. I am
done talking to these people, especially now that they have young children involved.
They do not care what you think and will let you know it. They are going to do what they
want ….. unless law enforcement is involved. I urge anyone observing this activity in
our neighborhood to call 911, tell them that a group of people are “trike drifting” down
our streets, that they are acting in a reckless manner and being a danger to others, that
they have done this in our neighborhood several times before, and, based on previous
encounters, they will only be here for approximately 20 minutes.
Jay Kennon
13725 111th Street Ct E.

Some of the “Trike” riders and their tow vehicle. License Number AMN 3334

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A Primer on IP Cam, DVR, & NVR Network Security

Neighborhood Security, PC Suggestions to Neighbors

The availability of low cost residential IP (Internet Protocol) Cameras, Digital Video Recorders (DVR), and Network Video Recorders (NVR) has brought significant benefits to individual home security and monitoring at a distance.

Some of our BLOG users have purchased these devices. If you are participating in the Sunrise Terrace Snapshot Repository we have assured you that your personal network remains secure when using the outbound FTP transport configuration provided to you when you added your camera, DVR, or NVR to the Sunrise Terrace Repository site.

Most of these IP devices are capable of additional methods of content sharing and remote access that may have already been activated by the manufacturer as part of a vendors “plug and play” or “out of the box” automatic usability features.

In this BLOG POST I review five basic network configuration settings essential to maintaining the security of your personal network and the IP devices attached to that network.  Making changes to your userID & password pairs, DDNS settings, remote access protocol, and router logs varies depending out your router make and model.  Most of these changes can be accomplished using your routers GUI interface and will not be difficult.  Consult your router operating manual for specific instructions.

The first suggestion (1) and best way to protect your IP devices from intrusion is to change the manufactures default administrative userID and password, or better yet disable the vendor administrative userID and create your own access credentials!

Suggestion two (2) is to disable DDNS service on your IP device unless you are using a DDNS service for your own remote access to IP cameras, DVR’s, or NVR’s on your network.

Suggestion three (3) is to change IP device remote access service to a non-standard port.  The standard (well known) ports for some protocols are HTTP:80, RTSP:554, HTTPS: 443, and Server:8000.  Choose a port different from the well known ports and one above 2000 if possible for the operating systems of your camera.

Suggestion four (4) is to monitor your Internet Router activity. Keeping your router visible so you can and monitor the router LED’s for transmit and receive activity is an indication of a possible attack.

Suggestion five (5) is to check the router log periodically or when you observe continuous or unusual router activity. External access attempts to your personal network will appear in the router log (if you have activated logging) and you can use that data to filter or deny unwanted traffic to your personal network.

The five suggestions above are easy tasks and are the basis of good Internet security for IP devices on you network.

I hope this BLOG POST has been helpful in securing your personal network.

Footnote: IETF RFC-1918 private network ranges start with the IP Addresses: 10.0.0.0, 172.16.0.0, & 192.168.0.0.

Tis the Season “to have your packages stolen”

Neighborhood Security

Nowadays almost everyone gets packages from shopping online.  Costco, Amazon.com, Sears, Walmart; it seems like almost every retailer has an online presence. More frequently during the Holiday Season there are shoppers out there who are shopping for packages left at your front door. Package thieves are already working the area and at the end of this article is a picture of a thief working near Spooner Farms and Hwy 162 , our old friend the 2001 White  4 door Honda Civic, license AAK 0463, and a couple of pictures showing a package thief with a red Dodge Caravan with rather distinctive damage.  The license number of the Dodge appears to be AIG 1656.  A friend sent me the pictures of the  woman with the Dodge from a group of Facebook pages he says is  devoted to Puyallup Crime.

This season let’s make it harder for the bad guys and girls. When you order things, try to keep up with the tracking numbers and know when to expect them.  If you are not going to be home, ask a neighbor to keep a lookout for your package.  If the item is particularly valuable, ask for the driver to obtain a signature before leaving it.

I have good high resolution cameras which record my visitors, and my deliveries.  If you don’t have a camera system at your home, or if your system produces fuzzy pictures, perhaps you might consider purchasing a wildlife camera just to record the coming and going of delivery men during the Holiday Season.  Wildlife or trail cameras, as some people call them, can be purchased for prices between $50 and $600 plus tax, however most trail cameras are less than $200. A steel security enclosure for the camera can also be purchased.

If you do purchase a wildlife camera, be sure to put it in a place where it will not be noticed.  Otherwise you might be missing your package and your wildlife camera.

AAK 0463 during package theft - cropedPackage thiefpackage theft 1package theft 2

–ALERT– Recent Suspicious/Criminal Activity In Our Neighborhood

Neighborhood Security

On 20 Oct. a single individual driving a white 4 door Honda Civic, license number AAK 0463 entered our Neighborhood at 04:56:46hrs, drove down 136th Ave. E., turned around,  came back, pulled into the driveway at 11712 136 Ave. E. to turn around again and parked on 136th in front of 11701 136th Ave. E.  The masked driver then proceeded down 117th St. E. staying in the shadows on the North side of the road, turned onto 138th Ave. Ct. E., went straight to 11701 136th Ave. Ct. E. and destroyed one of the two cameras which looked out on 138th Ave. Ct. E. He then returned to his car and left the Neighborhood at 05:11:57hrs.  The criminal was in the Neighborhood a total of 15min. 11 sec.

On 21 Oct. a white 4 door Honda Civic was observed in Shawnee Ridge.  An individual from this car was caught on camera as he came up to the porch of a home in Shawnee Ridge at 20:30:43hrs, left and came back again at 20:51:50hrs. The White Honda Civic License Number AAK 0463 was observed leaving the Neighborhood at 23:29:21hrs.  We do not know where they went or what they did between 20:51:50hrs and 23:29:21hrs when they left the Neighborhood.  We have a fair picture of the intruder at Shawnee Ridge  thanks to the cameras.

On 25 Oct. a white 4 door Honda Civic license number AAK 0463 was observed in the vicinity of Spooner Farms on highway 162.  The occupants were observed stealing packages from porches.  A lady posted on Facebook that she had pictures of the car and videos.  A copy of the picture of the car is below this posting.

On 28 Oct. at 04:51:01hrs the same white 4 door Honda Civic license AAK 0463 entered our Neighborhood and turned on 117th St. E. where it parked on the South side of the street just before 138th Ave Ct. E.  Two masked men exited the car, went directly to the two cameras which I had mounted on high poles looking down 138th Ave. Ct. E. and 117th St. E.   They proceeded to destroy one camera entirely and broke the mounting arm of the other camera. One of the last pictures transmitted by the camera shows one of the men going to their car while the other is still working to destroy the camera which looked up 117th St. E.  The car left the neighborhood at 05:08:56hrs.  The total elapsed time from entry to exit of the Neighborhood was 16 min. 55 seconds.

Alan Manning, Rod Okazaki and I have replaced the cameras.

These crooks are targeting our Neighborhood.  They obviously have come into the Neighborhood before the 20 Oct. visit, since the crook went directly to my camera and destroyed it.  He was in the Neighborhood for 15min. 11sec. that time.  On 21 Oct. we know they were prowling around at least one home in Shawnee Ridge at 20:30hrs and did not leave the Neighborhood until 23:29:21hrs, which means that at a minimum they had to be in the Neighborhood over 3 hours.

Please be extra vigilant in the coming months. These crooks are targeting our Neighborhood and have been seen stealing packages from porches in  areas close to here.  If you see a white 4 door Honda Civic license number AAK 0463 call 911 at once and report its position.  In fact if you see any car with license number AAK 0463 call 911.  The Sheriff’s Office has informed me that druggies often swap cars and license plates as part of their operation.  DO NOT APPROACH THESE INDIVIDUALS.  THEY MUST BE ASSUMED TO BE DANGEROUS. CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY.

Capture - 1

Capture - 2  Package thief

Regarding the recent blog post about possible cyber-snooping in the neighborhood

Neighborhood Security

Regarding the recent blog post about possible cyber-snooping in the neighborhood, our system experienced problems with our printer/fax beginning approximately at the time of the reported activity. The LAN address of the printer had been changed. We could not print anymore whereas it was working fine the day before. I suspect that the printer, a Brother, is not immune from hacking even if the network to which it is connected is immune or is inactive. This printer has an replicas relojes suizos automatic sleep mode when it is inactive. repliche orologi italiaIt should not respond to commands sent by any other network (and has not since installed about 1-1/2 yrs ago). But, one does not know for certain how secure it is.

There are many LANs in this area that can be accessed including the Puyallup Police and other similar sites. My computer easily identifies them while booting-up.

As most people in this area do, we have a modem/WLAN. It is password protected but I am not assured that it is hacker-proof. Comcast does not disclose the extent to which these modems are safe from intrusion. Some WLANs can be set to allow anonymous log-in or access by any or all visitors/contacts. Many businesses and restaurants do this as a “service” to patrons. This feature/option of personal modem should be disabled! Otherwise your modem/WLAN is a patek philippe imitacion potential gateway to your internet and no telling what else…

The best security policy is to have a personal firewall, password protect your computers or other network-connected devices and never leave your computer or other networked device on and network-connected when not in use.

Suspicious Activity – Early Morning – 27 Sep and 28 Sep 2017

Neighborhood Security

Yesterday Rod Okazaki came over and asked about a car he heard acting strangely at around 0250hrs. This morning I received an e-mail from Dav Eide on the same subject.  Just a while ago I received a phone call from Rod asking me to check around 0145hrs this morning because he was certain he had heard the same car come down 117th St. again.

Reviewing the pictures I found the car in question.  It appeared that the passenger had a laptop and that they were cruising around looking for unsecured WiFi signals.  This same car was seen at 0250hrs on the 27th and again at 0145hrs on the 28th. On the 28th it stopped on 136th Ave. E. just before it got to 11728, backed up to around 11734, then left the area.  If you do not have a secure password for your WiFi you may get hacked by these people.  We could not get a license plate shot because they appeared to have some sort of blocking which made it impossible for our license plate camera to get a clear picture of the plate.  Dav and I will be searching for a way to defeat this kind of blocking in the future.

While I was searching the pictures I observed a vehicle at 0305hrs stop at  the mailboxes across from Wayne Flood’s house. The passenger got out and walked to the mailboxes.  At first I thought it was a mail thief, but after careful examination of the pictures I believe it was the morning paper being delivered.  However – remember not to leave mail in your mailbox overnight.  If you are going to be away have someone pick up your mail or stop it at the Post Office. 

 

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Microsoft Scams

Neighborhood Security, Technical Suggestions

The other day my wife received an e-mail purportedly from Microsoft with the subject:  Suspicious Message: “We are having some time trouble online identifying your… system”

She quickly identified it as a Phishing message and forwarded it to me for reporting. I needed to send Microsoft the complete headers for the message, which meant I had to get them from the message on her computer, but it was a Mac, not the PC I was used to. After some painful manual manipulations between OutLook for Mac and PC versions I was able to extract the required information for the Microsoft Abuse Reporting Site.

I took the message headers, pasted them onto the original message and forwarded them to abuse@microsoft.com .  I received a reply from Microsoft stating that the message WAS NOT from them (which I already knew) and giving me a link which contained a lot of valuable information I wanted to share with our BLOG community.  See the link below:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/safety/online-privacy/phishing-scams.aspx

If you get a suspicious message purportedly from Microsoft, your bank, some agency like the FBI, Social Security, etc.  You can always forward it to abuse@(Microsoft, your bank, etc.)  Most agencies will respond to messages addressed to abuse@(whatever agency you want).  Remember to include the full header so that it can be investigated.

 

Crack Smoking & Junk Dumping

Neighborhood Security

This morning 25 July 2017 I received an e-mail I thought I needed to share with the Neighborhood for two reasons. (1) One of our neighbors reported a woman openly smoking crack beside the road, and the police did not respond. (2) I would like to find out if anyone took down the license plate number of the maroon Dodge pickup the fellow was using to dump trash from.  If you know the license number or know anything more about either incident, please let me know by commenting on this post or e-mailing me.

Hi Kirk, I just wanted to let you know that on Saturday morning around 10:30 there was a middle aged blonde woman sitting on the side of the road on Military between 137 and 136 smoking crack I called the police, no one came but she was eventually picked up by someone she knew!

Then this morning while out for a walk around 6:45 there was a maroon Dodge pickup at the top of Military dumping a 5 gallon black metal drum, 2 cars stopped and watched him. I’m not sure if they got his license plate, but returned a few minutes later and retrieved the drum. Glad those neighbors stopped and watched him. Anyways this is just a FYI for everyone to keep your eyes open.