In areas where robbery and theft are a major issue, home security becomes a matter of prime importance to the residents of that area. Everyone in the locality is forced to take security measures to prevent their precious belongings from being stolen. It is therefore invincible that a technological solution has to be formulated to ensure the safety of the house. Hence, a security device has been designed to send an alert message to the owner of the house and to the security forces nearby in an attempt to void the theft taking place. The system is designed by interfacing sensor modules with a microcontroller to detect the motion in the house and a GSM module to send alert message to the owner of the house when the house is locked. This system uses low-cost sensors for motion detection and proves to be affordable. The installation of the system is easy and also the sensors and modules require very less space and consume low power when installed. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2019.