Home security breach

I was in town when my wife calls from our 8 miles out of town, a small town, home. "Did I forget something?" Noooo sez I.
Well the auto garage door just opened ! ! !
She had looked out, saw no vehicle, but can only see in one direction from kitchen window.
It is a Sears or Genie, or something common.

Obviously this does not give me any warm, fuzzy vibes.
What are my options?

 

Man...I had that happen one time on my old garage door opener. Nothing ever came of it over here, but my butt hole was puckered up over that one for a long time afterwards. I know how you feel. You may be able to change the code depending on the opener. I'd be digging in to that. Good luck to you.

 

Older garage door openers are easily hacked. A cheap RF receiver allows a bad person to intercept your remote’s transmission. I had a cop tell me that I should replace my garage door opener for this very reason.

Oh, and 6.5 Creedmoor.

 

Change the codes in the unit and remotes....NOW.

 

Had a Ring unit in you garage. Will notify you on your phone of any motion, provide an image and you can talk to anyone that might be there.
These are inexpensive, reliable and stores every on the web for 7 days at no cost. Longer if you pay their fee.
I have one in the cockpit if my boat. They make different styles and some include spot lights.

 

I remember seeing a news story in Central Florida 10 or 15 years ago. Thieves were going to local big box stores and buying several of the most popular garage door openers. They would then ride through neighborhoods hitting the remotes. I guess these openers were operating on a limited number of frequencies and eventually they would find some that matched and rob the place.

 

If the door opener unit is fairly old, like 10 yrs or so, might check on seeing how much a new circuit board is, just goggle the model # & brand, and can order a new one on line for a lot less than a service call from a company. Also check the safety lights if applicable, they can go bad as well, loose wire to 'em, or just go bad, adjust as needed. If you have a spare remote opener just hanging around out in the garage, get it out of range or remove the batteries eliminate that possibility of an unwanted signal.

Don't ask how I learnt all of this.

 

I have a camera in my garage that alerts me when there's movement. I can check to make sure I also closed the door if I left in a hurry. My neighbor is infamous for this but he gets calls from 3 neighbors when he does this. I also have a Ring camera that sees traffic on our street.

I'll be replacing the opener with one of the newer ones that also has an app to put on your phone.

 

We had a rash of this, got fed up and now disconnect power completely at night and while not at home, kinda of a pain but worth it, don't have room for the truck inside any way

 

Like the others have mentioned, newer openers have a "rolling codes" and also you can "lock it out" to prevent someone from cruising by trying random codes. Best to replace your opener with a newer model for peace of mind.

 

Years ago a buddy of mine whose mom worked at Sears and a guy that I went to school with whose mom also worked at Sears wound up with a similar problem. They had Sears install garage door openers in their respective homes because of the huge discount they git for being employees. They wound up with garage door openers on the same frequency code. To compound the problem they lived less than a 1/2 mile apart, on a clear day at the right spot they could open both garage doors with a touch of either door opener. After they figured out what was going on, it became a joke to drive by the others house and open their garage door. It wasn't long after that when it wasn't funny anymore and one of them had the code of their opener changed.

 

Years ago most of these openers came from Sears. One night we were in a friend’s car and his dad had one of the Sears openers. Someone decided to hit the button and sure enough a nearby garage door opened. After a couple weeks we had a route that included about a dozen garage doors we could open. The funny thing is most would still be open when we made the same loop an hour later so we closed them. It didn’t take much to entertain us back then. Not like kids these days I guess.

 

Is there any advantage to converting an older door opener to work off a Bluetooth signal from a smartphone?

My immediate thought would be no if the opener itself doesn't have its internal circuitry modified to disconnect the conventional remote-control wireless receiver.

But I'm no security expert....

 

You used to be able to buy a Chamberlain replacement remote and control pad that had rolling codes at the big box hardware store. Much cheaper than replacing the whole opener especially if there is nothing wrong with the opener. It just two wires.

 

I purchased Arlo from Costco, no monthly fee works off wifi and come directly to my phone & computer and my wifes so if I'm mowing grass she can watch me circle the house!! ;-) Every package that is delivered is recorded.

 

Most likely a fluke. If it happens again, change your code. If it repeats, the most likely cause is a neighbor on the same setting.

 

As I remember the older radio garage door openers/transmitters/receivers had a small bank of switches (0's 1's) that could be set in matching orders for transmitter & receiver. I remember seeing a limited number of switches - either 4, 5 or 6. Given that limited number it would not be difficult to get the same make transmitter and cruise the neighborhood with multiple receivers set at different positions then reset then cruise again. For older transmitters the number of possible combinations is not that large. The newer openers coordinate codes automatically with a huge number of possible combinations.

Back then, if I had 4 transmitters I could cruse thru a neighborhood 4 times and open every garage door of the same make and type of system provided they all had had 4 switch settings.

Garage theft is becoming more & more common - sort of like a sport in some communities. Prosecution is lax. Goes along with vehicle prowling & porch pirate stuff.

 

There have been warnings re: just this type of thing occurring. Thieves drive around with several garage door openers and hit them and here and there a door will open, then if it looks all clear, no movement in house, etc. they enter and go through the garage and home.

 

Times have changed!! When I lived in a small town in Wyo. The wife and I left for vacation on a Friday morning. Tues morning one of my workers calls me and asks if there was a reason my garage door was open? She went and closed it. We got back 7 days later and nothing was missing!

 

There’s always the get-out-of-your-damn-car-and-put-the-door-up method, but that seems super complicated.