Often, workers in the surrounding areas or on neighboring homes can prove potential sources of crime, as they have the optimal vantage point to see when the owners of a house leave, or if the head of the household lives alone, or possesses some other kind of weak point. Sometimes, due to the transitory, unstable, physically demanding nature of construction jobs, these workers may be drawn from backgrounds that render them unsuitable for jobs requiring background checks and stable work histories. It thus becomes important to do your homework when choosing a company to perform home renovations or construction; consulting one’s neighbors and trusted online resources can save you the headache of discovering first-hand that a certain company is not all it bills itself as.

Unlike days gone by, modern threats to home security operate with the help of devices that old home security systems are not equipped to counter. Today’s criminals utilize a variety of unsavory technological tactics and do their homework before attempting a hit on a target. They may try tapping into one’s home computer system and emails to gather useful information about the homeowner, or going through garbage to obtain personal information such as social security numbers, birth dates, account numbers, or passwords.