If you lay the resistor across, all-of-a-sudden the resistance of the device halves. This should be suffecient to trigger the alarm. You could try just taping the sensor. If you put tape in the shape of the eye on it, then it doesn't look much different. You may set it off once, but you may not. Anyways, run/hide and show up later. Assuming the tape is still there, you're free to go.

The other thing you can try is slowly lowering a piece of paper infront of it. Some people swear it works, but I've never tried it and it sounds a little dubious.

Good point, I knew I was forgetting something. I have taped sensors before but never while the alarm was armed, I guess that could work. I'm gunna test it out before using it though.

Posted by Team Leader a passive motion detector is one that is wired into a graphical alarm system. Assuming your target has a passive system going, the detector can be defeated simply, assuming you don't have uber guard/ cop on site. However depending on what target you are attempting to infiltrate, a little prep can also help defeat an active motion detector.

I have no idea where you got your descriptions of "MOTION DETECTOR TYPES"

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But a "PASSIVE" motion detector means "PIR" OR PASSIVE INFRARED"

This means that when HEAT which is greater than that of the ambient tempurature of the environment is detected infront of the motion detector it will cause an alarm condition.

The detector has NOTHING TO DO with the System. You can use 5 different types of detectors on the same system (therefore this) active and graphical stuff you're talking about is a bunch of hooey... sorry...

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Another type of motion detector is a Microwave Detector.

This sends Microwaves out from the motion detector and the recieves the waves back to the motion detector, the detector scans the room at a refresh rate, and if any of the beams come back obstructed it causes an ALARM condition.

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YET ANOTHER type of Motion Detector is a RADAR detector

This works much like the Microwave detector, except it can be adjusted to exactly fit the specifications of a room, or even be used to detect motion up to 1000' feet away. VERY EFFECTIVE and low in cost.

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Be sure you know EXACTLY what you are talking about before you start posting information which could likely cause someone else to believe, which could cause misfortune on those who read incorrect information.

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The point is this NO ONE WILL DEFEAT ANY DETECTOR. They have been tested by laboratories under million dollar reasearch budgets.

I can assure you that your nike wearing, flashlight holding, internet info filled brain will not defeat this system, unless you KNOW the Alarm companies installation techniques and you can get to the wire to actually disable it HARD-WIRE style.

THIS IS THE ONLY WAY IT CAN BE DONE, and it requires YEARS of experience with the INSTALLATION side of security electronics to do properly, and further more, every security company has their own colour codes they use for wires, not everyone uses red and black for power, so the point is that unless you know who installed the system, chances are, you're gonna get your ass busted.

I am working on a -NOPST Technique file, which will have over 50 pages of Night Ops Techniques... and Info for everyone to read up on.

-NOPST

Posted by Team Leader What tipped me off was the phone rang, I was thinking who would be calling this place at this time? then I spotted that nasty winking red eye and departed rather quickly. So if you do trip one and there is an active phone expect a call first and take that as your cue to leave.

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the monitoring company, calling the premises... this is the order of operation for monitoring companies

IN THE EVEN OF CLIENT ALARM:

Call the premises:

If there is an answer, ask for name, SYstem number and Password.
IF there is no ANSWER, proceed to CALL LIST.
IF there is NO RESPONSE from Premises or CALL LIST
then
DISPATCH POLICE

(Each Alarm subscriber has their choice on "WHAT TO DO" during an alarm, but most companies want verification of an actual infiltration before dispatching police, however it is not necessary, and sometimes the police can be there before you even realize the alarm is going off)

-NOPST

Posted by Chronos Is it possible, if you have access to the wire that the motion sensor is connected to, to strip the wires with say, a razor blade, than short them by laying or wrapping some wire around the now exposed portions of the negative and positive wires going to the detector? Obviously there is a safety issue stripping live wires and there are obvious ethical questions raised by this, but theoretically, it would work, right? Edit: I thought about this a little, and doing this might set off the alarm because the system might be able to detect a change in the current and be able to tell the motion detector was tampered with. However, if you were to bring an assortment of capacitors and a multimeter, wouldn't it be possible to find a capacitor to use when shorting the detector that would make the current the exact same with or without the short? (sorry, that last part was worded a little inefficiently)

THIS IS THE CLOSEST ANYONE HAS COME ON THIS BOARD TO THE PROPER WAY OF DEFEATING A DETECTOR:

Since you're so close, I'll let you in on a secret.

Most alarm companies use what's called "END OF LINE RESISTORS"

THese are resistors, placed in the detector, that monitors a constant Resistance from the alarm line, if the alarm goes off, it will short out the resistor, and cause an alarm condition, thereby, if you cut a wire on an alarm system, then the alarm will go off.

if you are able to do some Intel work and find out what alarm company installed the system (by the stickers on the windows and doors, or a logo on the keypad) you can search your reference material, and find out what resistors they use, and bring some along, lay it across a stripped wire, and replace the resistor in the device, with the one in your hand.

THe problem is this, you still have to get rid of the resistor in the device, and the problem is that some alarm companies cheap out and put the resistor in the control panel, there by monitoring the line all the way back to the detector, now if the wire is very long, the reisstor will still do it's job in the control panel, but if it is far, far away, then the panel might not notice the short in the line, and allow you to bypass it.

But it ALL BOILS DOWN TO HOW IT WAS INSTALLED.

I guess working for 12 separate Alarm Conglomorates in as many years has served muy "personal database" VERY VERY WELL.

Side note "-NOPST will be available to help with infilitrations at a cost of $300 Dollars an hour HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH Just kidding.

-NOPST

In the real world it seems the best way I have found to defeat these is by showing up before they are on, and slapping a pile of vaseline on it. You can of course use masking tape of white spray paint. What ever you prefer.

Holy cow, $300 dollars an hour! #@$%, for that much , I could hire some thugs to beat the Sh*& out of the building's manager, drag him to the keypad and have him manually shut the system off, then take a picture of his driver's license and tell him to keep his mouth shut or face the consequences. Ha ha ha, okay, maybe that's a little less sneaky than what we want but hell, at $300 an hour, you better not want to take lunch or a coffee break. Would you take a percentage of the ill gotten gains instead?

http://www.patents...351234/claims.html

Maybe use an EM pulse to disable it?

Glass also blocks infrared, but its unlikely that you could maintain the panel of glass at the correct angle to actually pull it off.

Ok, I had to sign up for the site and post some info in here because there's a lot of completely dumb assumption in here but also a lot of correct information in little pieces. I used to install alarm systems, so this is certainly relevant to my experiences.

(Active sites that are properly alarmed might as well be Fort Knox... certainly do your homework before attempting anything active.)

Motion Detectors:
1. These are usually set up where you won't see them until it's way too late. You can stand right under them as they won't see you, but that won't happen in real life.
2. The old PIR (infrared) systems see only heat. The Microwave ones see motion. Current systems use Dualtech (both). You cannot defeat them by putting paper or another lens over them. You cannot block their view while they are in operation.
3. Motion detectors field of view is divided into basically a grid. More columns than rows. If an object is detected going from one "zone" to another, it detects motion. If the object also has a thermal signature, it will trip. It is possible to VERY, VERY slowly walk across the field of view of a motion sensor. I do it at work just for kicks, but it's a pain in the butt and I wouldn't recommend testing it on a live site.
4. Light Beam/Laser detectors- rarely ever used due to maintenance issues, cost, setup requirements.

Motion detectors are inexpensive and can cover areas very effectively. They CAN see through glass windows, but are usually not aimed directly at them because bushes outside, cars driving by, and UEr's gawking through the window would cause false alarms. They are generally used in hallways, stairwells and other higher traffic locations and "pinch points" as a backup to the perimeter (door and window contacts).

Alarm System Wiring:
1. Most systems are divided into zones. Each zone is a wire loop. Each zone has an inline resistor, supposedly at the end of the line, most of the time in the panel.
2. If you cut, short, or otherwise tamper with a zone you will trip it. If the zone is instant (program selected, not hardware), the alarm will go off immediately. If the zone is programmed as an entry zone, the keypads will usually start chiming. Usual entry delays are about 60 seconds. Long enough to walk to the keypad, fumble with your keys, drop stuff, scratch your butt, then finally enter your code.
3. Window and door contact wires are 2-conductor (short to signal) and generally are daisy chained within a zone. Keypads, motion and heat detectors and other devices are generally 4-conductor (12v power +/- and two for signal).

Exterior Security:
1. Motion Detectors are sometimes used for exterior security, but likely 95% of the ones you would see are usually attached to lights only.
2. Perimeter fencing is sometimes secured with infrared laser beams. These are highly effective although costly to maintain. I've only seen them in use in one location, a construction yard that was constantly being broken into by illegals looking for tools and scrap. The best systems produce something of a sheet of invisible light. So much as put a finger thru the fence and you're nailed. These are easy to see as the emitters and detectors are mounted at the corners of the fences and are pretty obvious.

Battery Backup:
1. Just about all systems have a 12v sealed gel-pack battery good to run the system for a couple days after a power failure.
2. Some systems, especially with fire equipment, have additional capacity to run for up to a week.


If you have any additional questions or need for further detail, post questions here and I will answer.

Posted by Vectored Approach You cannot defeat them by putting paper or another lens over them. You cannot block their view while they are in operation.

First off, thanks for the wealth of information that you posted! I'm curious, when you say that the dualtech sensors cannot be defeated by placing anything over the lenses, does that mean that if someone covered the lens with foil tape that the alarm would function despite that, it would not arm, or it would trip when it was covered - but not after that?

Thanks again.

Foil tape would indeed block the view of the sensor, but to pull it off you'd have to do it when the system was not armed. The motion detectors actually come with some foil tape cut into a grid pattern to use to block out parts of it's view when installed for purposes like keeping it from tripping when a pet walks through an area, or to mask a window partly in it's view. So, yes they can be blocked.

When armed, the motion detector would see the movement across it's field of view. At such a close range, it'd look like a herd of elephants running through the room. And they heat sensor part is sensitive enough to detect your residual body heat on the object you're covering the lens with.

But, of course, it's so unlikely to get into position directly under one anyway unless you are the most Uber ninja ever.

If you had daytime, unarmed, access to a building there's a couple things you could do to afford yourself entry at a later time. First would be to bypass a magnetic door/window contact at a POE. This would involve placing a magnet in such a way as for it to travel with the contact when the door/window is opened, keeping the zone unopened. This would be seriously difficult as they are generally mounted INSIDE the door/window track and require lifting the window/door out for access. Second would be to block the view of the motion detectors in the area to access with foil tape on the inside of the lenses. These are easy to open as most just require a little pressure on the top or bottom of the case to release the tab (sometimes a screwdriver is needed), and off pops the front half of the case. Foil the entire thing, replace and hope nobody notices the LED on the front doesn't come on when they walk through the room. Of course, if you had the access to do that, just explo it in daylight.

If I were determined to keep people out of an area, I could drop a panel with 3 gel-packs in it and a couple Dual-techs and nobody would be able to get near the place. I'd also include a couple "special" sounders... 120dB warblers... get two in the same room out of phase and it'll make your head swim. Doesn't take a lot of equipment to make any site really secure. Of course, some sites could be set up by complete amateurs (the site owner) and wouldn't be laid out to cover everything. Your mileage may vary.

A couple other things I'd mention... if you locate the central alarm panel (metal box usually beige, about 5" deep and about 12" to 14" square, DO NOT open it! Most companies put a trouble contact inside the box and it will instantly alarm and send a trouble message to it's monitoring station. I used to "uninstall" some crappy alarms from *cough* Sonitrol *cough*... A buddy and I would both stand at the ready with our cutting pliers as we'd open their system. In about 1.5 seconds we'd have both the power out and the telephone line cut. This would result in a quick chirp of the sirens/bells and the company would immediately call. We'd then tell them that their services are no longer required and to come pick up their box. I still have a keyring with keys to 90% of the boxes currently still available. Most are relatively simple 4 tumbler cheapos that a novice could open with a decent set of picks.

The other thing is some systems (Sonitrol) in addition to the motion and contacts usually have sound sensors. These are small beige metal boxes about the size of your hand that look like a speaker enclosure. They are usually tuned low enough that the AC/heating system won't trip them, but anything else clunking around will generally start a trouble alarm (silent) and the monitoring company can listen to what is going on in the building.

If you're really, really curious about the types of equipment you're likely to see in a particular location, take a look around for the security company's stickers. Once you found their name, call them up and see what they offer as far as packages of components. See if there's any equipment in their packages beyond the usual door/window contacts and motion sensors. Additional things you may run into are under carpet pressure pads, noise monitoring, IR beam sensors. Few of these are ever used in anything less secure than a bank.

Posted by Chronos I was thinking specifically of a building that I can get above the motion sensors (above the ceiling, via a maintenance room) but the motion sensors make it so I can't walk through a hallway. I've seen the wires that go to them and I know somone who cut them one time (what a moron). Are you sure that would set off a tamper alarm? I'm thinking about stripping the wires that go to it and laying across a resistor that matches the total resistence of the motion detector. It seems like I may be overlooking something though.

Wouldn't you essentially be able to use a resistor in-line before the detector before cutting the wire after the resistor? So essentially you wont be tripping a tampering alarm as the system would still think that the detector is still on at the other end, when, it isn't.

In theory the resister idea would work, as it can hold the power, not sure how long, but you could run the resister long enough to block the detector or put a false window on it, and pull the resistor back off so It appears as though nothing has been changed . Of course this would only work if you have access to it without being in front of it, like you have.

EDIT: Fail on my part, last post was last year, my apologies.

There's usually two ways these are wired. Both ways have a pull up resistor on the zone.

1. Resistor is wired at end of line. If you short the line, panel will go into trouble alert due to the changed resistance. If you drop another resistor across it in parallel, it should also go into trouble alert.

2. Installers were lazy and put the resistors at the panel. If you drop another resistor across it in parallel, it should go into trouble alert. If you short the line, you may be ok. Depends if the zone is wired normally open contact or normally closed contact.

I would say the best method (simple reasoning of install methods and probability) would be to strip back the wiring and short the signal conductors, then cut off the motion detector side of the circuit. I'd call this at about 50% chance of success. Not all that bad if you can bugger off fast without being seen if you do trip it. Of course, you will be leaving evidence of tampering, possible fingerprints, and maybe your tool(s).

No worries about responding to an older thread. That's what the info is here for.

Posted by Vectored Approach It is possible to VERY, VERY slowly walk across the field of view of a motion sensor. I do it at work just for kicks, but it's a pain in the butt and I wouldn't recommend testing it on a live site.

I used to do that with the motion sensor light outside the marina laundry room while my clothes were washing. The light was above the vending machines and between two bathrooms outside. I could move about 3" a minute and it wouldn't go on. Much faster though and it would light me up like a street sign.