Which Door on Your Home Is Most Likely to Be Targeted in a Break-In?
September 24, 2026
Rear and side doors are targeted most often in residential break-ins because they are screened from the street, giving an intruder time and cover to work unobserved. Front doors are targeted less frequently despite usually having the weakest hardware relative to their exposure. Back doors, side gates, garage access doors, and sliding doors onto rear gardens carry the highest risk, and these are typically the doors homeowners have spent the least on securing.
Security spending in most homes follows visibility. The front door gets the
deadbolt, the quality cylinder, the
security screen. It is the door people see, the door that represents the home, and the door that feels like the entrance. Meanwhile the back door — screened by fencing, invisible from the road, fitted with whatever hardware came with the house — receives almost no attention at all. That imbalance is exactly the one an intruder is looking for.
Why Rear and Side Doors Are Targeted
Cover.
The single most valuable thing to someone forcing a door is not being watched. A rear door behind a fence, or a side door down a narrow path between houses, offers concealment that a front door facing the street cannot. Someone working on a back door can take several minutes without anyone seeing.
Time.
Cover converts directly into time. A front door attempt has to succeed in seconds. A rear door attempt can proceed at a pace that allows for a second and third method if the first fails.
Lower specification hardware.
Because rear doors receive less security attention, they frequently have older cylinders, no deadbolt, thinner doors, and strike plates fixed with short screws into the jamb. The hardware that would take real effort at the front takes very little at the back.
Escape route.
A rear exit into a garden with side access is preferable to a front door onto a street.
The Specific Weak Points
Back doors with glazed panels.
Very common in Australian homes. Breaking a small pane near the lock and reaching the internal handle bypasses the lock entirely. Laminated glass or security film addresses this.
Sliding doors onto rear decks and gardens.
Factory patio latches provide privacy rather than security, and the door can often be lifted from its track. Anti-lift devices and a secondary track pin cost very little and remove both methods.
Side doors and laundry doors.
Frequently fitted with the lowest-specification hardware in the house on the assumption that they are secondary. They are secondary in use and primary in risk.
Garage internal access doors.
Where a garage connects to the house, the internal connecting door is often treated as an internal door with an internal-grade lock. Once someone is inside a closed garage, that door offers complete cover and takes minimal effort. It should be specified as an external door.
Unsecured side gates.
Not a door at all, but the thing that grants access to every rear entry point. A side gate with a simple latch is the gateway to the rest of the property.
Where Front Doors Still Matter
Front doors are not immune. Where they are targeted, it tends to be for two reasons.
Weak frames.
A front door with an excellent lock in a frame with a standard strike plate and short screws opens with one kick. The lock is irrelevant if the frame gives way.
Occupied-home entries.
A proportion of residential burglaries occur while people are home, often through a front door left unlocked or on the latch during the day.
Where to Spend, in Order
Secure the side gate.
It costs the least and removes access to every rear entry point at once.
Bring rear and side door hardware up to front door standard.
Deadbolts, quality cylinders, and reinforced strike plates with long fixings.
Address glazing near locks.
Security film on glazed panels adjacent to any lock.
Fix the sliding door.
Anti-lift protection and a secondary track pin.
Then reinforce the front door frame.
Long screws into the structural stud behind the jamb.
Notice that most of this list costs less than a single high-security cylinder. Security improves most when spending follows risk rather than visibility.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should every external door have a deadbolt?
Any door that provides access to the property from outside should be deadlockable, including laundry, side, and garage connecting doors. A door that only latches can be slipped open in seconds.
Are security screens worth fitting to rear doors?
Yes, particularly on rear and side doors where cover is greatest. A screen to an appropriate Australian Standard adds a separate barrier that must be defeated before the door itself is reached, and it allows the door to be left open for ventilation while secured.
Does a dog deter break-ins?
A dog that is audible from outside is a genuine deterrent, because noise and uncertainty are the two things an intruder most wants to avoid. It is not a substitute for hardware, but it changes the risk calculation for someone choosing between properties.
What about the garage roller door itself?
Roller doors can be forced at the base or, on older units, released through the emergency cord using a wire through the top seal. A shield over the release mechanism and floor locks on the door address this.
Can a locksmith assess which doors on my home are most exposed?
Yes. A security assessment looks at each opening in turn — door construction, frame condition, lock type, strike plate fixing, glazing proximity, and sightlines from the street — and identifies where the actual weaknesses are rather than applying a generic checklist.
Contact True Locksmith on
0421-767-767
for home security assessment and lock upgrades across Bayside Melbourne. Neale assesses every entry point on the property and recommends upgrades in the order that delivers the most protection for the spend. Over 30 years of experience. MLAA member and VIC Police registered. Serving Sandringham, Brighton, Brighton East, North Brighton, Beaumaris, Bentleigh, Black Rock, Caulfield, Cheltenham, Hampton, Highett, McKinnon, Mentone, Moorabbin, Mordialloc, and Parkdale.