Listener Article May 2011 P1/6 www.paragonnz.com www.paragonsecurity.co.nz

1. Tech Traps
How
safe are
your
secrets?
Hackers, scammers and spammers
can cause mayhem for your
texts, emails and documents
but the greatest risk may come
from the people you trust.
by David Lomas & Joanne Black/
photo by Amos Chapple
F
or workers at Paragon Investi- linked to cameras watching them from unauthorised person can gain access to
gations head office on Auck- every angle. its files.
land’s North Shore, getting Inside is a sensitive burglar alarm system Welcome to the world of New Zealand’s
access requires tapping in a that, if triggered outside office hours, fills leading industrial security company.
key code and putting a finger the building with a thick smoke-like sub- For Paragon managing director Ron
into a fingerprint identification device. stance, reducing visibility to zero and McQuilter, a former policeman who has
Visitors need to press a buzzer at the main effectively blinding an intruder. It gives worked as a private investigator for the
entrance, then speak into an intercom the company’s security people time to get past 28 years, security is paramount. “We
linked with surveillance cameras. to the building before the intruder flees. cannot tell our clients to trust us with
Once they pass the first entrance door, The company’s own computer net- their secrets if we cannot guarantee we
more cameras follow them as they walk work is regularly checked. Paragon’s com- can keep them safe,” he says. “With what
up the stairs to the second entrance puter forensic team, which undertakes we do, we know we could be a target
where they are again greeted by a security much of the security firm’s corporate and ourselves.”
door with yet another intercom system domestic bugging operations, ensures no On his computer screen McQuilter has
16 Listener May 28 2011