Waking up to a burgled house, a missing car and my DJ laptop also gone, I learned a few sharp lessons, but luckily I had done some things right.
“Phil, we’ve been robbed!”
That’s how I started last Wednesday morning, with my shaken partner shouting the bad news up the stairs at me. Struggling into clothes, I ran downstairs to where she and my one-year old boy were. Like us, my boy was sleeping when they struck, but unlike us, thankfully he didn’t know or care that someone had turned over his home, before making off with the family car.
The purpose of today’s post is not to explain what happened or to ask for sympathy (they broke in through an upstairs window, grabbed laptops, a phone, a camera, car keys, followed promptly by our car, and were out fast – no we didn’t wake up, and yes we’re all OK).
No, the purpose of this is to share some lessons I learned from it.
What I learned from the experience
The thing is, nicking insured stuff is one thing (if you’re not insured, please do
it folks, especially if you are in rental accommodation where it’s easy to be blasé), but nicking income-generating stuff is something else entirely, and especially when that stuff is hard to replace.
Because I have to be honest, while we counted up the missing things, it was the loss of my DJ laptop that hurt most. It was the only thing from Digital DJ Tips that was at home with me rather than safely locked in the office.
Luckily, I had a backup of all my music, so getting that back was easy; I downloaded it from my cloud storage and was done.
What I hadn’t done though was back up my Serato database, and so I’ve lost all my cue points etc. No big deal: I DJ manually anyway and don’t cue or beatgrid much, but it still irks. If I’d have really cared, I’d have done that to be honest.
Luckily, I had a backup of all my music, so getting that back was easy; I downloaded it from my cloud storage…
All my passwords were protected behind a master password – although I wish I’d done the same for the computer itself so they couldn’t log on and look at my family photos and personal emails, for instance.
Also, I use DropBox rather than just local storage for boring but important day-to-day stuff; while they now had a copy of all of that, at least I still did too.
So as it turns out, we’re shaken, upset and saddened; but assuming the insurance are true to their part of the bargain, all we’ve lost is a bit of money (you always end up out of pocket one way or another) and a lot of time (I’m writing this in a police station, in a queue waiting to fill in yet another report). Could have been worse.
But I really wouldn’t want anything similar to happen to you or your DJing gear. So my advice is: Don’t pretend you’re immune to this stuff. Back up your music, insure your gear, password protect your computer, write down serials and phone IMEIs, and keep all receipts. Oh, and take your car keys to bed with you.
And finally, don’t leave upstairs windows open. There’s sadly likely to be someone with a ladder who’s got his eye on your stuff.
PS: The reason I’m currently at the police station is actually good news: The car turned up, nearby and undamaged. One less thing to worry about. At least I can drive to Sunday’s gig now if I want to!
Well for once I sincerely hope you have no experiences to add in the comments below. Commiserations if you do, but if you feel it would help you to share, please feel free to do so.
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From the Forum: Backup Solutions
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Tags: backups, safety, security
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“The purpose of today’s post is not to ask for sympathy”…regardless, it is offered. I live in a country where crime is high, a dangerous place, you could say, so, my guard is up. You don’t want to live in fear, but with all the right precautions you should be able to live peacefully.
[ link ]Yeah, we just have to be a bit more careful. It’s a reality check. Thanks for your sympathy though, it’s the time taken out of Digital DJ Tips that I resent the most, I’ve got very little done this last week.
[ link ]Phil
I know exactly how this feels, my $2300 macbook pro was stolen out of my own hands. Police never came close to finding the guy. You will feel better in the next coming weeks, I know its a shock. Your very lucky to have had the cloud storage though.
I wish you the best.
[ link ]Man, for lack of a better word, that sucks. Glad you, your son and your partner are ok. Back to the music…I’m trying to figure out how to use cloud. Especially since I got a new mac trying to convert 40gb+ of music to my new mac. I’ve been taking chunks one by one from my old mac to my external hard drive to my new mac. Also good idea how youre using DropBox my friends and I only use it to send music and movies to eachother. And I’m ABSOLUTELY going to jot down all my serial numbers etc. Thank you for that.
[ link ]Ouch. Gutted for you as we’ve been in exactly the same position as you about 12 years ago. Kind of scary when a junkie trashes your house while you sleep. I can’t add to this other than to think about what kind of position you’d be in if it happened to you, and plan accordingly.
[ link ]I don’t think anyone would ever be able to rob my house. I have deadbolts and a regular lock on all the doors, a super alarm system where if were you move the window and inch while it was armed it would set off and the police would arrive in less than 5 minutes, and a big dog
. The stuff I have in my house isn’t worth the hassle anyways.
[ link ]So do we – now. (Except the dog. Considering it, though.)
[ link ]I live on a private road, 5 houses total. Few months back all my neighbors were burgled except my house, no alarm just 2 really big bullmastiff that are indoor when we aren’t here.
[ link ]By the way the best dogs to have when you have kids.
Thanks for tip re dog. I’m considering it!
[ link ]Really sucks Phil, happy to hear you and your loved ones are alright though. Thank you for taking such a positive approach and sharing your Insight with us on the matter.
[ link ]I am glad you and your fam came out ok and not hurt. One of the DJ’s from a local lounge also had his stuff stolen from his house recently. I hope it never happens to me. All my sympathies to you.
[ link ]Wow, great to know that you and your family are alright! Having all important files stored into the Cloud is indeed a good advice (I should do it
.
[ link ]Glad you at least got the car back ! not too long ago I went for cloud backup for my music too when I purchased a NAS storage drive. I wanted to be able to get my music back if there was a technical failure as I travel out of town a lot. NAS drives are an inexpensive and handy backup. DJ gear can always be sorted out but its the content that counts.
[ link ]Last year it happened to me at one festival, while staying outside the festival zone, and my dj bag with laptop, traktor interface, headphones, 2 harddrives and original cds (for backup) + car keys stolen the night before my set, there were several things I’ve learnt: 1) back your music up, preferably to the cloud (if it is too much work, you probably have more music than you actually need). 2) don’t put all your music into one bag
3) losing your files is nothing, the most important is the track collection you have in your head, not in your laptop or harddrive. 4) Insured or not – it is always possible to buy a new laptop + hardware and start over…
[ link ]I got the same thing two weeks back wen i was coming from my gig at a club. My Dj laptop was taken along with the serato SL3 box, and beats headfones on gunpoint and the robbers actually asked me to quit djing if i still wanted to live. Nothing else aside from my dj gear was teken. They also added that if i didnt heed to their orders my life wud be up next. There is Lots of beef/rivalry in the Ugandan Dj scene. Been out of the game for some tym now, just came back afew days ago. Guys u need to be careful. watch yo backs! There’s some really bad ppl out there! Regards:
[ link ]Allan Shepherd
Jeez, that’s harsh. Sorry to hear that.
[ link ]Wow… That is horrible. At first I thought Phils story was sad, this is just plain horrible. You can replace gear and cars, lives you cannot.
I’m truly sorry for you man. I hope you’ll be allright.
And please don’t get killed. THAT would be horrible.
[ link ]Is it a Mac laptop which is logged into iCloud?
If so try logging into http://www.icloud.com and use the Find My iPhone section. Keep trying, it should locate itself when connected to WiFi.
[ link ]Yes to both, it’s programmed to remotely wipe the second they get it online.
[ link ]That is really one of the best features of Apple products. Report it stolen and the instant they begin to use it the whole thing turns into a paperweight.
[ link ]Really sorry to hear that man.
I installed ‘Prey’ on my laptop last year, just in case. It’s supposed to help you track your laptop by wifi if it goes missing, or wipe it by remote. Thankfully I’ve never had to use it so I don’t know how effective it would be (for it to work, the b*st*rds have to connect to the internet) but it might be worth checking out. preyproject.com
Take care
[ link ]“so they couldn’t log on and look at my family photos and personal emails, for instance.” and “password protect your computer” is… let’s call it naive. Depending on the operating systems (OS), your login password might be used for en-/decrypting the files on your computer. Now you only need a very good password. Take a look at this: http://xkcd.com/936/
No matter which password you choose: Once the laptop’s gone, the thief got enough time to crack it via brute force attacks. I don’t say that it’s totally useless, but you can be sure that your data will be gone. If it’s taking too long for the thief to retrieve the files formatting a drive with the Gutmann-method and there’s no way to retrieve any data of that disk. Usually the laptops and PCs will be sold somewhere after formatting.
Some OS don’t have any encryption provided for the data on your HDD or SSD via your login password. For such systems all you need is a bootable media like a USB-Stick or CD with a Live-Linux or Live-Windows and you can read any file you want without the need of the user’s password.
What you really really need is a physical security, not a logical security. Even the cloud can’t be safe. What if someone gets your account information via man-in-the-middle attacks? The person gets access to your files, maybe to your account, downloads everything from that account and deletes all the files. The next time you log in, it’s all gone. And here comes the physical security: create a backup of your whole system on an external USB-HDD and lock this USB-HDD up. Then you’re safe about your data… and only use the cloud for unimportant stuff like music. Don’t share more data than you actually need to.
[ link ]Call it easy to say with hindsight! I m very careful with that laptop and never expected it to get nicked from my living room with a ladder. Stupid, for sure. And I don’t think the people who nicked it are hackers, they’re more likely druggies / opportunists.
[ link ]i agree with the above post.
phil, you need to change all your passwords ASAP. if the got access to your email, they can change passwords quite easily. some sites may have security questions as an additional protection, but security question answers are typically weak and straight-forward to brute force.
[ link ]They’re all changed, thanks for the concern.
[ link ]Most thieves are not going to ‘brute force’ attack your laptop. Most get wiped and put in pawnshops for sale. You need to remember that many (not all) criminals are criminals because they are idiots. ID theft is a concern, but it’s more likely that your laptop will end up being used for YouTube in a crack house.
[ link ]I use a home inventory programming to track some of stuff. And back it up to 2 different clouds.
[ link ]Very glad you and your family are fine, and that you’ve gotten the car back in tact.
[ link ]Phil,
Sorry to hear what happened. But, thank you for turning it into valuable information for the rest of us. I’ve got my music backed up, but have not yet dealt with cue points. Will do that right away!
And yes, I’m closing the upstairs windows.
Daryl Northrop
[ link ]Alexandria, VA USA
Ditto most of the people here, glad to know you and yours are okay and thanks for sharing. Bet it gave us all something to think about….
[ link ]Phil, if you’re using a MAC do consider spending $100 on Lo Jack for a 3 year warranty. They sorta guarantee a recovery or give you back $1000 if unsuccessful. My friend just bought this for her son’s new Mac after his was stolen from his college library. He’s gettin 4 yrs warranty probably as a student.
Check this out please: http://www.absolute.com/lojackforlaptops/
Glad you’re all ok. Thanks for sharing. Remain Blessed
[ link ]Phil, been there before. Sounds like you were a bit more astute then most and utilized technology that is available to you. Glad to hear that other then the loss of your items you are on the track to putting this behind you.
I know for me, the greatest crime is the loss of the sanctity of your home. At least for me, this was the feeling I was left with. Someone was “in here” and then the anger started for me.
My CD’s , PA System, etc…all lost. Found out later it was someone I knew.
We live and grow. I wish you the best in making this a story you tell from time to time when this is relavent. Hate to hear it happened. Glad that nothing occured with the safety of the ones you care about.
Be well,
@RexRaveR
[ link ]Thanks
[ link ]I was recently robbed and thanks to the marvel of DropBox I managed to recover my iMac. Actually, I was robbed 3 times in 6 months by the same fuckers.
Long story short, the dumbasses didnt rebuilt it, as it was Mac, they probably didnt know how and once they connected an iPhone to to computer it downloaded all thier iPhone photos to the dropbox, which contained GPS Data in the exif data on the photos and I tracked down the location where the home looking photos were taken, also got numberplates etc from the photos and used that to track down the guys faceboook profile, which contained the photos.
Also useful is that dropbox keeps a log of when authorized computers connect. If you log onto the dropbox website, go to settings and my computers it will list them all with the times.
If you hover over the “i” button it will display the IP.
You can use this to track down the ISP and hopefully the police can use that to track the thief.
It all worked for me, even though I had to do all the hard work for the police, who are incredibly lazy in New Zealand
[ link ]Thanks for the tip Dave and sorry to head of your robberies.
[ link ]Phil I am glad you and your family are safe and were unharmed. Thanks for sharing this harrowing experience with us.
[ link ]My condolences Phil.
If you lived here and caught them mid act, you could have shot them.
I had something similar happen to me.
They knew I slept during the day and broke in downstairs while I was asleep and cleaned me out.
Good on you for backing your music up.
Glad you had insurance. They are robbers in their own right, but when push comes to shove, with proper documentation and out of pocket deductible, you end up getting your stuff replaced.
It saved me.
[ link ]Phil,
Glad to hear that you and your family are safe.Cant believe that they came in your home, knowing that you were there. The iCloud is a good idea, since your music collection is irreplaceable. I have two backups for my system, home owners insurance, and two big Rottweilers that bark at anything on the street that doesn’t belong.
[ link ]This is something that I think about anytime we are away from our house for any length of time. I always move some of my important stuff to secure locations in my house. I am also fortunate that I have great neighbors, as well.
Sad we should have to think this way, but you’re very wise. We have a house watcher for when we go away too, plus we leave nothing of easy-to-steal value anywhere. Unless you want a sofa, some food and some well-worn clothes, you’ll not find much when we’re on vacation!
[ link ]I feel your pain as I was in the same situation a few years ago. Unfortunately it was before the boom of the cloud and I had my laptop and 3 hard drives stolen, which included the backups of my backups. Music and other stuff was replaceable, it was the photos and other personal stuff which was not. The countless hours I spent on my lifes collections gone in the blink of an eye. Of course you rebuild, but be careful folks.
Use the cloud wisely and consider encrypting important documents as well, just I case someone does manage to get into your personal stuff.
[ link ]Phil, glad you and the family are OK.
[ link ]But your advice … “take the car keys to bed” … don’t do it.
Better leave them in sight. Cars are insured, it’s a lot of hustle, but it’s less of a problem than a gun planted to your head while your asleep and a burglar shouting for the car keys.
That’s true, also it’s pretty common for people to be sleeping gassed (at least, it is here in Spain) – I know of someone whose Rolex was stolen from his bedside table in this manner. But not leaving your valuables near a point of entry into your house may just stop opportunists who don’t want a confrontation with the owner. Let’s be honest though, we’re comparing bad with bad here, aren’t we? Sad world we live in at times.
[ link ]Sorry Phil, hope there is a chance to get those a…holes.
When it comes to Backups:
I made really good experiences with Timemachine.
Not only that it keeps all the Music, it also holds the complete Mac OS (including Serato/Traktor DBs an in my case even complete Windos 7 on a Virtual Msachine). So not only if the Macbook gets stolen or damaged, but also when you upgrade to new hardware, it is so easy to bring back all the stuff you need.
Top of the pops would be: Timemachine Backup in the Cloud
Regards from Germany
[ link ]Martin
Yeah, I need to look into Time Machine. Thanks for reminding me
[ link ]Sorry to hear you were hit, Phil. Glad you’re safe.
As for Time Machine, I used to use it — but a few times I checked my backups and found that it wasn’t backing everything up. For example, it wasn’t backing up a .xml file in my iTunes folder (?!?). This got me wondering *what else* isn’t backed up. A few Google searches later, I found similar reports of other data missing from Time Machine backups.
A Mac tech guy I know later recommended a backup program called Deja Vu — http://propagandaprod.com
[ link ]I’ve been using it since then, and it appears to back up all my data (the file sizes of the data folder and the backup folder match). It’s *fast*, too.
Whilst I do have all my music backed up 3 – fold there were other points here that I’ve been so blase about. So thanks for the post Phil and opening my eyes to all that other stuff.
Also along the lines of what Martin said, Timemachine is just gold and so easy.
[ link ]I would be livid if my Macbook Pro was stolen. Where I currently live, no one even locks their door so it would be quite a shock. I’ve got this program on my Macbook called MacKeeper thats like an all in one anti-theft, internet security, optimisation and utilities program. The anti-theft is pretty good. If the computer connects to a network it logs any location, ISP etc info it can and takes photos with with webcam (in hope of getting a photo of the thief). You can log in to a website from anywhere and get all this info and give it to the cops.
[ link ]Glad you and the family are ok. Thanks for making the time to share your experience and advice at a particularly difficult time for yourself. Defo need to sort out my back up…. Time to sort out a time machine or a NAS server thingy like synology or qnap… Though maybe I can turn a raspberry pi into one.
[ link ]I like using cloud backups for things like DJ gear manuals, but not for my personal files.
And on-site backups are great, but what if your external drive(s) are stolen in a break in, or your home burns down?
So a couple of years ago, I picked up a couple of external drives and rented a safety deposit box at a bank. Every two weeks, I back up my data to one drive and swap it for the drive in the deposit box. That means there’s always one drive at the bank.
Extreme? Perhaps. But my work and life are in digital form. I can’t imagine losing my work files, the photos and videos of my daughter and other relatives — the list goes on.
Next step is to encrypt the data. I’m just not sure whether Serato Itch and FileVault (OSX) play well together.
[ link ]Sorry to hear this Phil. There’s something quite emotionally violating about having someone in your house while you and your family sleep. Especially when you have a child. Glad to hear you are all OK.
[ link ]I give you a hard time for your constant “vinyl vs. Digital ” articles, but truth is I love your blog and respect the hell out of what you bring to the table from a information standpoint. I am so glad to hear that you and your family are ok. Things (even DJ equipment ) can be replaced, people can not. My heart and prayers go out to you and blessings that you are all ok.
[ link ]Seriously, many thanks. By the way, they left my vinyl !
[ link ]Fools! But that’s great news!
[ link ]Fools.
[ link ]But hey, that’s great news! I can’t even begin to imagine replacing my records…
That sucks… deeply sorry, Phil.
[ link ]Sorry to hear it but I´m glad you (and yours) are safe.
And thanks for sharing your thougths.
On the other side, many people you don´t ever know worry for you. And that´s freaking awesome.
Un abrazo desde Madrid
Thanks Mig! I’m actually in Madrid tonight at a trade product demonstration… small world eh?
[ link ]You bet it!
[ link ]Again, you are your family are OK and it won´t stop you. Yeah!
Thank God you and your family are ok. I think I have been neglecting getting contents insurance for too long,and the thing is it just takes a phone call to add it to my home insurance,going to do that now. I’m going to show my wife this blog ,she is constantly leaving windows upstairs open.
[ link ]Do it!
[ link ]My house was cleaned out a few years ago. They took my PC (with about 30 tracks I had written in Cubase), my monitor speakers, my CDJs, my turntables, my mixer, all my cables, my CDs, my vinyl, my Macbook Pro, my passport, my ID, my bank cards, jewelry, etc. I was devastated. It took me a long time just to get into music again. Every time I would hear dance music I would get pissed off.
[ link ]Another horror story http://www.broadsheet.ie/2012/06/18/handsome-paddys-gear/
[ link ]You need to be extra careful if you are a resident DJ who drives to work… Thieves will case you out for weeks if they really want your gear.
[ link ]It took them just 3 minutes to hit my car and clean it out… i parked out back.. walked around the front to enter by the front door… by the time i came back out the rear door it was all gone!!!
Hey Man.. I feel your pain. Honestly. I was robbed last month. It was by a guy who was friends with a girl who was living with me. When she moved out she either let him in, or left the door unlocked for him. I had recently moved into my new place, because I wasn’t fully unpacked, I still don’t know all thats missing, but it’s a horrible feeling. Having someone in your place, with your things, it’s like being molested. I lost a few laptops, ps3, XBOX 360, video camera, and from what I can tell, I might have walked in on them. My NS7 was still there, another laptop, other things. Knowing that they might come back is even worse. I guess what I am thankful for is that I had sold my guns a few weeks before, because those would have undoubtedly been stolen too.
I did not have renters insurance, and I knew that was a mistake. The police don’t take it seriously because they refuse to think its anything other than a domestic squabble. Basically I have had to just come to terms that I lost a lot of my stuff. Things I cannot afford to replace.
I am a very security conscious person but I slacked. Here are a few things that I have done since, to try to prevent it from happening again.
2. I installed application on my laptop called IWATCHLIFE. It’s free and constantly monitors with your webcam, looking for intrusions, light changes, scene changes, etc. It’s always upload to the web. My thought here is that is someone breaks in I will at least have photos and videos of them.
2. Found some alarms that are a good alternative to paying high contract prices from ADT. I found simplisafe.com , they have good reviews and you own the system when you buy it.
3. I installed PREY on my laptops and phone. This is also free for 3 devices. It will tell you the location of your items when they are used to connect to the internet.
4. Password protect everything, including your phone. Do the best you can do to at least make it so other people cannot benefit from your information.
Im sorry to hear you had this happen. I’m glad you and your family are safe.
[ link ]Thanks for sharing, some great advice there too.
[ link ]Really sorry to hear about this Phil, but luckily it was just positions that can be replaced.
I will say that its worth encrypting your data, especially work computers that may have sensitive information or passwords on. Grab a copy of True Crypt – http://www.truecrypt.org/ – its free, open source and apparently stupidly tough to crack. It can encrypt single files or the boot drives of a computer, so if your computer is stolen they won’t get past the bios without your password and if they put it into another drive they won’t be able to see or access the data either. Its good for USB sticks too.
[ link ]Thanks for the tip
[ link ]Hi, I was just wondering how you back up music via the cloud?
[ link ]You can use iCloud, Amazon, Google, DropBox… All will do the job.
[ link ]