Business security over the holiday: a checklist before you close

Why is a long holiday risky?

During Ramadan and Eid al-Adha, the market goes quiet for a few days. Some shopkeepers go to their hometowns or relatives, and neighboring shops are closed too. Normally someone would notice an attempt to force a door, but now nobody is around. In the days before the holiday, sales go up, so there is more cash and stock than usual in the register and on the shelves.

When these two things come together, a business becomes attractive to burglars. On top of that, a fault during the holiday, for example a recorder that does not turn back on after a power cut, goes unnoticed for days because nobody is looking. When you come back from the holiday, an incident may have happened and nothing may have been recorded.

Alarm system: arming it is not enough, test it

You may arm the alarm every evening. But before a long holiday you need to see that the system really signals. If the alarm panel has a test mode, use it; if not, arm the alarm, open a door, and check that the siren sounds and the notification reaches the phones. Do not forget to tell the monitoring center or the people who receive notifications before the test.

Who receives the notification also matters. If you will be out of town during the holiday, add a second person who lives near the business and can come if needed to the notification list. Phone numbers may have changed, or the number of an employee who left may still be on the list; update them.

• Do all door and window sensors show as active in the zone list?
• Can the siren be heard both inside and outside?
• Are the phone numbers that receive notifications up to date?
• Has the alarm panel's backup battery been checked recently?
• Who knows the alarm arming code?

Expert note: Test the alarm a week before the holiday, not on the last evening. If a sensor or battery problem comes up, you will still have time to repair it.

Cameras and recorder

Cameras showing an image does not mean they are recording. Open the recorder and play back the last few days of recordings. If the disk is full and the device is not set to overwrite old recordings, recording may have stopped. If there is a disk health warning, deal with it before the holiday.

Try the monitoring app on your phone from outside, that is, without being connected to the business's internet. If you cannot connect while you are out of town on holiday, you also cannot know whether the system is working. Turning on motion notifications from the cameras for the duration of the holiday lets you see a night-time incident right away.

Do not leave the recorder out in the open at the business, on a shelf where a thief can easily take it away. If the recorder goes, the recordings go with it. A locked cabinet or an out-of-sight spot makes a big difference. If your cameras support cloud recording, you can also consider turning on storing a copy of important events off-site for the holiday period.

Preparing for power and internet outages

There is no rule that the city will not have power cuts during the holiday days. The alarm panel's own battery lasts for a certain time. But without a separate uninterruptible power supply for the recorder, modem and cameras, both recording and notifications stop for the duration of the outage.

If an outage lasts long, the devices need to turn on by themselves when the power returns. Some recorders and modems wait to be turned on by hand after an outage. Before the holiday, unplug and plug them back in once and check that the devices start by themselves and the cameras continue recording. It also helps if the alarm can send notifications over a mobile line instead of the internet, for when the internet is down.

Passwords, keys and employees

In the busy period before the holiday, more than one person opens and closes the shop. The alarm code may have been given to an apprentice, a new employee or a relative. Before the holiday, write on a piece of paper who knows the code and who has a key. If someone who left the job still knows the code, delete that user from the alarm panel or change the code.

The same check applies to phones that have access to the camera app. The app may still be signed in on a former employee's phone. If the recorder's admin password has been left at the factory setting, be sure to change it before the holiday; default passwords are easy to find on the internet.

• Make a list of who knows the alarm code.
• Delete the users of employees who have left.
• Change the recorder's admin password.
• Note who has the spare key.

Measures outside the system

The security system is important, but some of the most effective measures need no device at all. Deposit the cash from the register at the bank before the holiday or take it home. Take valuable and easily portable items out of the display and put them in a locked place. Check the roller shutter locks and the back door.

Leaving a small lamp on inside makes the camera image clearer at night. Agreeing with a neighboring shopkeeper or an acquaintance who lives near the business to walk past the shop once or twice during the holiday helps you notice things the devices cannot see.

During and after the holiday

During the holiday, it is enough to open the camera app once a day and look at the footage. If a camera's image has been lost, check the other cameras and the alarm panel notifications to understand whether it was a power cut or someone tampering with it.

When you return, check the roller shutter and locks from the outside before opening the business. If something does not look right, watch the recordings on your phone before going in. If there was an incident, keep the recordings unchanged and report it to the police. We explained in a separate article how to export and store a recording.

If you want your alarm or cameras checked before the holiday, you can request a maintenance visit from Desa Bilişim.

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