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More than 1000 LEXPRO PROPERTY MANAGEMENT customers have moved from local area networks to cloud servers in the past seven years. This is why you should, too…

During World War 2 the Germans used Enigma coding machines to encrypt their radio messages between the various war groups.   This coding machine was developed in Poland and Germany prior to the start of the war.

The Germans believed that it was impossible for the enemy (the British) to break the Enigma encoded messages and read the information contained therein.   Many experts agreed.  But not the British.  Through the efforts of Alan Turing, amongst many, the British successfully decoded Enigma codes and, by so doing, knew in advance of almost all the enemy’s moves.   Unbeknown to the Germans, the British and their allies, including the Americans and, indirectly, the Russians, were enormously assisted by the information contained in these radio messages.

Today, many computer users make the same mistake as the Germans did.  They believe that the information contained on their computers, are safe from cyber-attacks.  They assume that cyber criminals have no use for the information contained on their computers and will therefore not attack them.  They should think again.

Cyber criminals, in many cases, can easily break into protected local area network computers and, almost always, have a good use for the information they acquire.

The least harmful use for information obtained, is to sell it for marketing purposes.  Only time is lost by the user who must read and delete the advertisement.

A more serious result is deceiving the user and stealing from him or her.  For example, a letter is emailed to the user/owner, ostensibly from the estate management, claiming “arrears”.   In 90% of cases, the owner will check his records and phone management to enquire about the alleged “arrears”.  The remaining 10% pays and makes the cyber-attack worthwhile.   Prevalent, almost epidemically, is changing the user’s passwords and holding him or her to ransom: “Pay $x dollars in Bitcoin to get the new passwords”.  Most users, desperate to gain access again, just pay up.

It is therefore vital or crucial that information about owners and their families are properly protected.

Storing information on cloud servers opens the door to an almost fool proof defence against cyber-attacks.   By cloud servers we mean servers situated in specialised computer data centres, typically in Johannesburg or Cape Town.   Successful attacks on these servers are almost impossible once fire walls have been created and the information is encrypted.  Firewalls prevent unauthorised access by creating a limited means of accessing servers from behind the fire wall.  In addition to the above, at Lexpro, we use software methods which limit access to data or information in such a way that the normal query methods, used by criminals, are useless.

Using Lexpro’s online modules, we routinely store sensitive information, such as names, identity numbers, accounting details,  addresses, especially email addresses, and much more, on cloud servers.   Clients and users are given access, limited or full, to such information via the internet provided they use the proper login details such as usernames, passwords, and book sets.   From time to time,cyber criminals have tried to gain access to our clients’ data, but, so far, happily, they have failed miserably.

The cost of using a cloud server is lower than that of a local area network and all its attendant expenses.  The result?  More than a thousand of our customers have moved from local area networks to cloud servers in the past 7 years.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Chris du Plessis, Lexpro Systems, info@lexpro.co.za

 

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