Tuesday, November 05, 2002

It’s a home intruder’s best-kept secret means of entry: the garage door. Criminals have long known that they can easily open a home garage door secured only with the garage door opener (GDO). Closing the gap on this vulnerability to intrusion, Automated Security Technologies, L.P., (AST) has unveiled Gaplock.. Gaplock is an innovative locking device that puts a deadbolt on the security threat posed by home garage doors with GDOs.

Industry sources estimate that 25-30 million home garage doors are equipped with GDOs, primarily because they provide the valued convenience of automatically opening and closing doors by remote control. For many families, access with the touch of a button has made the garage door the most frequently used door for entering and leaving their home. However, a home garage door equipped with a GDO, and no other locking mechanism, can be vulnerable to intrusion from a variety of security violation techniques, like:

Code-Grabbing - Criminals duplicate the signal codes transmitted by GDO remote controls and open the door as if it were their own

Cord-Grabbing - Criminals access the GDO’s red emergency release cord and manually open the garage door

Corner-Pulling - Criminals pull out on a bottom corner of one-piece (swingout) garage doors and slide under

Back-Driving - Criminals force the garage door towards the open position, to drive the GDO motor backwards and open the door

“Most people are amazed and alarmed when we show them how easy it is for anyone to open their home’s garage door in less than ten seconds, using common techniques known to criminals” says Rodney Shoemaker, President of Automated Security Technologies, L.P. Gaplock works with the GDO and a rolling code remote control to automatically lock a home’s garage door every time it is closed, and unlock it before it is opened.

About AST/Gaplock

Founded in 2001, Automated Security Technologies, L.P. (AST) manufactures automated locking devices known as Gaplock. Gaplock’s innovative/patented security solutions and benefits (for home, business and government applications) are proprietary in that they are provided only by AST-Gaplock. For the residential markets, Gaplock works with a home’s garage door opener to automatically lock the garage door every time it is closed and unlock it before it is opened. Gaplock also provides a unique solution for securing a business/government facility’s overhead doors (such as shipping/receiving) by automatically locking the door every time it is closed (and can be integrated with a security monitoring system to verify that the door is closed and locked). For more information contact your local dealer/installer, 1-800-THE-LOCK, 1-800-843-5625 or visit www.gaplock.com.

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