Nearly one in two Australians have been caught up in cyberattacks this year. How can Australia’s property leaders get a step ahead in cyberspace? Yardi’s Senior Regional Director Bernie Devine (pictured above) has some ideas.
Several high-profile cyberattacks in recent months follow a spike in online scams, with the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) estimating that one cyberattack occurs in Australia every eight minutes.
The ACSC notes a growing trend of cybercriminals targeting the property and real estate sector to conduct business email compromise scams in Australia, for instance.
“Our lives are led online, whether that’s through Zoom rooms or virtual classrooms, internet banking or IoT devices. But the ubiquity of the internet comes with growing cyberthreats,” Devine notes.
Yardi’s data security whitepaper outlines several growing cyberthreats, from text-based scams to deepfakes, hacktivism to point-of-sale skimming. As these threats increase, so does the risk of hosting data and software internally, Devine warns.
“Cloud technology is the safest way to store data, the most convenient way to do business, and the most cost-effective way to mitigate risk – just as long as you choose the right provider.”
For the end user, operating from the cloud means having access to live data from anywhere with an internet connection. The alternative to the cloud is local servers that provide in-house access to data. This data is synchronised with mobile devices periodically but is not available in real time.
“Using software products from multiple vendors can heighten risk exposure, especially when sensitive data is shared across platforms with inconsistent security levels,” Devine says.
“Hackers look for weak applications and then move laterally to the hacked organisation’s other systems. A hacked system may not contain sensitive data, but it can then be used to find a more valuable target.”
The cybersecurity world moves at light speed and the work of averting attacks and safeguarding data is never done. In fact, complacency is one of the biggest threats to data security.
“Most people don’t notice the differences between cloud-based and locally hosted software. But they notice when their system has been hacked and their data compromised.”
Devine says the world’s top cloud providers are dedicated to keeping up with security threats and evolving technology trends. “A top cloud computing company’s expertise and resources will surpass anything that could be delivered by an in-house IT team,” he says.
“The best cloud companies offer seamless security and back up data in interregional locations, as well as teams of hyper-vigilant security experts that can immediately block attacks and investigate anomalies.”
Yardi’s client data is behind multiple layers of firewalls, encryptions and intrusion prevention systems. Yardi constantly backs up and replicates all data to an off-site centre to ensure business continuity, and exclusively hosts in Tier 3 co-location spaces with end-to-end redundancy for power and internet connectivity.
“As digital transformation drives innovation and efficiencies across the real estate sector, we can’t afford to be complacent. It’s time for Australia’s property leaders to put their heads in the cloud.”
For the seventh consecutive year, Yardi was recognised among the world’s top-tier private companies on the Forbes 2022 Cloud 100. Find out more about Yardi’s industry-leading investment and property management software for all types and sizes of real estate companies.