MCYSEKA-Maritime Cyber Security Knowledge Archive

my house was broken into this week. i live with my 55+ mother to help support her, and i have a 12 yr old deaf dog. both of us were out of the house at noon, broad daylight. thieves entered through our backdoor which they attempted to force open to no avail. they removed the screen and popped the glass out on the door, unlocked it through the window, and walked inside. police were called and a report was filed, our neighbor saw a black sedan parked outside of our house which they used to escape. two men entered the house and one man was driving the car, but they were all dressed head to toe in black including masks, so nobody was able to point out any features about them other than that they were all male.

what i don’t understand is that they took almost nothing. they went straight to the master bedroom, opened several drawers and bathroom cabinets, and only took one small box full of useless papers and an old ring. my assumption is that they thought the papers (they looked important and had a previous address on them, a home my mother sold a few years ago) were important bank information? they walked straight past her laptop and my racing bike, paid no attention to the TVs or anything else that I would think would be “valuable”. were they scanning for cash and personal finance info, or casing the place to decide if they should come back?

for extra info: we live in a not great area, are just “normal” people, no CEOs or expensive cars here. the most valuable thing in the house would be the TVs and laptop. we don’t keep a cash stash anywhere in the house. my deaf dog was sleeping in the side bedroom (i close the door because he likes enclosed spaces) and i have a motion activated amazon blink camera in the bedroom with him in case anything happens to him medically. during the time of the break-in, there was no motion at all. nobody even entered that room, they went straight for the master, which makes me think they weren’t really casing the place.

since the break-in, we got four more home security cameras, for the front door, back door, living room, and master bedroom, as well as door alarms. i am getting glass break alarms delivered tomorrow, and we put reinforcements on all the windows (the small metal screws that prevent them from being slid open). we are also replacing the backdoor tomorrow for a heavier metal door with no window. just in case there was bank information on the papers that they stole, all credit accounts have been frozen, and my mother is closing her former bank account and opening a new one, and getting all her cards replaced. that being said, i am still terrified from this, mostly for my old dog. the idea that someone could have entered and hurt him without him or us being able to help him breaks my heart. i work a 9-5 and my mother takes care of a few of my family’s grandkids during the day, so there will always be times at which no-one is home but the dog. are there any more steps that can be taken that would ensure the safety of our home? if they did get bank info from the stolen papers, are we covering our bases properly?