A headline in The Orlando Sentinel, July 16, 2010 reads: “Deputies seek help identifying self-storage thieves.” The article goes on to add that” Security cameras captured the thieves between 2:00 and 3:00 PM…” Unfortunately, the cameras captured the images of the thieves, not the thieves themselves, who cut through a chain link fence. A similar story from KIH TV in Houston this summer notes how “a few guys” were “caught” on camera on breaking into a facility one night, who then returned the next night, disabled the camera, and broke into more units. According to the manager, the storage facility is “beefing up” its security with more cameras. Are they going to be more cameras to break, or more cameras to record fuzzy images? The operator is also requiring renters to buy disc locks. In both these cases, and in dozens of others, thieves cut through a fence, broke into units, and were “caught” or “captured” on tape. They often bypass units that have disk locks.

This January a story from Bradenton., FL added another component: The break-ins were discovered after deputies at 3:00AM responded to a door alarm. “The burglar or burglars entered three units in the interior portion of the business, and tried to break into a fourth unit,” according to a news release.

Some operators are even banding together. According to WRDW, Channel 12, Augusta, GA, a ring of thieves appears to be operating around Augusta GA: “Earlier this month, security cameras caught three men busting the locks off more than 50 units at Gate 5 Self Storage on Tobacco Road. They’re all doing the same thing,’ said Max Vallotten, owner of Gate 5 Self Storage. ‘They’re cutting the fence, cutting the locks…. You feel violated.’” Operators have formed the South Augusta Alliance in response. According to Richmond County sheriff’s Lt. Tony Walden. “First and foremost, we’ve got to have better surveillance. Got to have that.”

Fences, gates, cameras, door alarms. They seem to serve a similar purpose in these stories: they record and announce crime. They may even deter it. But we also know that many thieves know how to defeat these costly visible devices. These cases seem to indicate that disc locks would strengthen the chain, but in many cases, operators merely recommend disc locks, or require only after the fact. What we often see is a facility with thousands of dollars invested in a fence, gates with keypad access, dozens of cameras, and even door alarms, with the thief’s final destination guarded by a five dollar lock. How can operators and renters get the full benefit of their security investment if they both go for cheap security at the end? A weak link at the thief’s destination negates any additional investment in other components.

Cameras reassure your prospects and customers and deter thieves, but they only record crime. They cannot prevent it.

Does a Five Dollar Lock Enhance or Undercut Thousands of Dollars in High Tech Security?

After operators spend thousands on security devices, it is hard to believe that cost alone keeps some from using disk locks. Veteran self-storage consultant Jim Chiswell suggests that operational issues still make some operators reluctant to require or recommend disk locks. These owners and managers don’t like to cut or drill out disk locks—too much trouble. Regarding security, isn’t that the point? To provide “trouble” for a thief? A little investigation will demonstrate how to safely remove a disk lock. It takes time, and loud tools, but hundreds of operators do it easily. Some manufacturers offer disc locks with numbered keys that allow the operator to order a replacement key. Inconvenience is a poor excuse for maintaining low security, especially when promoting a secure facility is one way to stand out in a tight price-conscious market.

Disk locks may deter break-ins better than padlocks, but are disc locks the link that matches the other links? As the reports indicate, thieves often have an easier time with padlocks than disc locks, but while disc locks might be an upgrade to the padlock, do they provide a high level of security? Consider this:

• Most disc locks have the same type of keyway as standard padlocks. With around a thousand key codes, there is a good chance of duplicate codes in a 400 unit facility. More seriously, that conventional keyway is pickable, and “bumpable” as well. You may have heard about the “bump key,” a method that can turn any amateur in a lock picking pro in a few minutes. Just search “bump key” into Google or YouTube and you won’t feel so safe relying on a disc lock. And the bump key works without leaving a mark.

• There is an additional vulnerability to the disc lock, which hasn’t been exploited too much yet. With a hidden shackle on the latch, the latch itself is vulnerable. A bolt cutter can snip the slide bolt around the latch to break into a unit.

Even with a tough padlock or disk lock, a self-storage slide bolt can be cut with a bolt cutter.

The disc lock, while it is an upgrade to the padlock, still leaves the keyway and the latch vulnerable. The only way to add a security link that complements and matches fences, gates, cameras and alarms is a flush mount cylinder system.

A Cylinder System Complements your Capital Investment and Turns Security into a Marketing Tool

Why does a cylinder lock system provide greater security than a disc lock? Both a medium security cylinder system (built around a tubular vending machine style lock) and a high security system (built around a virtually drill and pick proof system with unique key shape) are flush mounted into the door with a back plate that provides additional strength. There is no slide bolt to cut, and both styles are much more pick-resistant than a standard padlock or disc lock.

• A medium security tubular based cylinder lock will have 50 to 60,000 key combinations, a tubular-type key similar to those in many vending machines. Ask your lock supplier if the keys are numbered for easy replacement. They are considered medium security because can be picked by a tool readily available on the Internet. This system is a significant upgrade to any disc lock system, because tubular pickers still prefer vending machines.

• A high security cylinder lock will have over 3 million usable key combinations, a virtually pick-proof and drill-proof keyway and a non-duplicable key blank. The keys are numbered for easy replacement, and because this system resists brute force and drilling, it usually includes a master key. Norm Kotoch and his family own five facilities in the Cleveland area. His Bishop Road facility was voted “Best Overall Facility of the Year” in The Mini Storage Messenger. Norm turned to this high security system when the local fire marshal refused to permit his first site unless he provided fast easy access to every unit. After investigating his options, he chose a high security system.  “The Fire Marshall’s request forced this option. Now I wouldn’t build another facility without them.” Norm features this system as a key component of the marketing message of Security Self Storage on his website. “We constantly strive to offer state of the art features like our individual door alarms, 24 Hour DVR surveillance and recessed cylinder locks.”

Both a medium and a high security flush mount cylinder lock system provide a security level that complements costlier components such as access controls, cameras and door alarms.

Security Differentiates You in a Competitive Market

In tough economic times, you and your customers are concerned about crime. But don’t be dazzled by technology. If a thief’s last challenge, at the door latch, is quick and easy, then you have wasted your money on your costly high tech features. Cylinder locks are a one-time expense. Most operators “lease” them free or charge a five or ten dollar administrative fee and keep the deposit if the renter doesn’t return the keys. In either case, at a relatively low cost, cylinder locks provide genuine security and a market advantage in a very competitive market. Take a look at the cylinder lock options offered by your lock manufacturer. Evaluate their security features and ask yourself if you want your renter’s door to be the most vulnerable place at your facility.

You can also read the full article on page 54 of Self-Storage Now!

Rich Morahan frequently writes articles and conducts seminars on security for a number of industries. He can be reached at 617-240-0372 or at rmwrite@comcast.net.

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These padlocks allow shredding companies to provide their customers with padlocks with key codes that match the key codes of their customers’ bins and cabinets, allowing a single key to open all the bins, cabinets and padlocks at a site.

From Orange County, Calif., to Augusta, Ga., law enforcement is puzzled about the thefts. Typical is the response from California, where The Orange County Register reports that police are “mystified as to why 81 tanks have been stolen from five locations.”

Across the country, the Guntersville, Ala., police chief, faced with a similar situation, also seems perplexed. In the past, these tanks have been stolen for scrap or for use in illegal methamphetamine production, but he wonders if lately there could be a more sinister motive: “Our biggest concern would be that somebody has a greater plan of sabotage or possibly a terroristic idea.”

Consider that the recent failed car bomb in Times Square included three propane tanks along with a detonator and fertilizer. Terrorists in Europe have also tried to use propane as an explosive. Illegally obtained propane tanks may indeed be materials for a terrorist.

Security responses
Whatever the primary cause of these thefts, from simple small-time crime to fueling a bomb, the industry ought to be developing some additional security responses to prevent these thefts, from stronger storage cages to more cameras. Storing tanks inside a facility is dangerous, and may even be against local ordinances. A bigger lock on the cage may just lead the thief to cut the mesh.

Propane distributors and retailers need a method to secure an individual tank. Even if the problem is only simple theft, the tanks are reportedly valued at $50, and a black market in stolen tanks is obviously unacceptable. The other two possibilities, use in the meth industry or possible terrorism, have much larger community implications and demand stronger security steps.

Lock it up
The best solution to meet each challenge, and in particular the terrorist challenge, is to secure each tank with a valve lock.

A quick Internet search for “propane valve locks” will reveal two kinds of propane tank locks – one a consumer-oriented product with shackle that clamps over the valve handle and a second industry-oriented product that actually blocks the outlet valve.

This product, called a “POLock,” is available with a registered key code and directly inserts into the valve. If a thief steals a tank, even to use it to fuel a bomb, there is no way to access the propane without destroying the tank. Even a suicide bomber needs to connect and arm an explosive device safely before bringing it to a destination. Active support for these kinds of locks would impact the theft epidemic, eliminate a fuel source of the illegal meth industry and, most importantly, protect a readily available explosive source from terrorists.

Certified service
Of course, there is a cost for propane valve locks, but there is also a cost for stolen tanks.

A propane valve lock also ensures that a tank has been properly prepared and filled, “certified” by the operator, who then removes the lock when the tank is delivered to a customer. Such enhanced certified service could surely justify an increased price to eventually offset the price of a lock.

If the industry proactively promotes these types of locks, it may prevent government intervention if propane continues to be a popular fuel for terrorists.

Vulnerable propane tanks are a potential industry problem that can be most effectively addressed proactively if distributors and retailers develop a program to secure individual tanks before these thefts become a bigger problem.

Consider these two important questions: How many of you have locks at your facility that can be opened with a bump key? And what can you do to prevent this from happening at your site? The answer to the first is easy: Almost all facilities contain locks that can be easily opened with a bump key. Every operator ought to be able to answer the second question, since it addresses customers’ security concerns. First, here’s a little more background on the device itself.

What Is a Bump Key and How Does It Work?

The bump key is a tool that allows even a novice to quickly compromise a pin-tumbler keyway in a padlock or disc lock. It can open a pin-tumbler disc lock just as easily as it can open a pin-tumbler padlock.

The bump key was highlighted in Newsweek’s August 2006 Web edition, in an article titled “Beware the ‘Bump’ Key.” The story featured Barry Wels of The Open Organization of Lockpickers, a group whose members partake in the hobby of locksport, the study and defeat of locking systems. Wels said members pick locks “not with criminal intent, but more in the spirit of puzzle-solving.” He and an associate, attorney Mark Tobias, explained the potential vulnerabilities of locks the bump key exploits.

A standard pin-tumbler keyway is based on a set of five to seven pins as shown in the accompanying image. The teeth of the key raise and lower the pins. When the key lines up the pins, the “shear line” is aligned, and the cylinder rotates to open the lock.

The teeth on a bump key are ground down to the lowest level. The filed down key is inserted into the lock, held with tension, and then struck with a hammer. (You can even buy a special bump-key hammer online.) The pins bounce, and the lock opens. You can see how this works in dozens of video demonstrations on YouTube.

Even if you don’t think a bump key is common knowledge, it’s still critical to understand how it works and how to prevent it from being used at your facility. You may have customers who are familiar with or hear about it and have concerns that there’s a tool enabling thieves to enter a unit without evidence.

According to cryptographer Barry Schneier, “Lock-picking information, until very recently, has been hidden, not from the bad guys, but from us, the consumers. There’s no economic motivator for anyone to make a better lock because you, the consumer, don’t know [how vulnerable your lock really is].” Thanks to the Internet, however, your customers―along with those thieves who missed the boat on the first round of publicity―might just be finding out about the bump key.

Security experts talk about a technique called “security through obscurity,” meaning that if a security flaw is unknown, it isn’t a flaw. That concept protected pin-tumbler locks since the 1920s. It doesn’t protect them any more.

Padlocks vs. Disc Locks

Most self-storage operators these days realize that a padlock provides little more than a nuisance to an amateur thief, because its shackle can be cut with an ordinary bolt-cutter. Because a disc lock has a protected shackle, many operators and security experts believe it to be a significant security upgrade to the padlock.

That may have once been the case, but if the disc lock uses the same kind of key and keyway as a standard padlock, the bump key has changed the game. It easily opens any lock that uses a pin-tumbler keyway, the keyway found on most disc locks. With a bump key, disc locks are just “round padlocks” to a thief. You need to know this, and you need to have a response for your customers.

A bump key can open a pin-tumbler disc lock just as easily as it can open a pin-tumbler padlock.

Locks That Cannot Be Bumped

The bump key compromises the standard pin-tumbler keyway, found in the vast majority of “thief-resistant” disc locks on which the self-storage industry has come to rely. A disc lock can provide a powerful physical barrier, but with a vulnerable keyway, that barrier is little more than an illusion.

“Bumping is a vulnerability to many standard locks, and that’s why we educate experts on proper steps that can be taken to minimize the risk,” says Clyde Roberson, director of technical services at Medeco High Security Locks, an international lock manufacturer. “Not all locks can be bumped. Consumers need to know the difference.”

Fortunately, there are locks that cannot be bumped. These work through rotating detainer discs and a sidebar rather than pin tumblers. The detainer-disc keyway, developed nearly 100 years ago, is built around a series of seven to 11 discs. Each must line up with a sidebar to rotate the cylinder and open the lock. There are no pins or springs to bump. A detainer-disc keyway works in a padlock, a disc lock or a cylinder lock.

A lock such as the Medeco “biaxial,” which requires the pins to be lifted and rotated precisely, is described as “bump- and pick-resistant.” Medeco developed the biaxial in 1985 to defeat the bump key. With teeth and pins cut at angles, the pins must be rotated just so to open the lock.

This year, Master Lock introduced its version of a bump-resistant keyway. It’s important to note that both the Medeco and Master Lock solutions are recent developments, and there are hackers who insist they have defeated the Medeco biaxial. Only the detainer-disc sidebar system has been successfully field-tested for nearly 100 years. According to Frank Minnella, CEO of Lock America International, the system was invented in Finland in 1914, and has never required modification to prevent bumping.

Meet the Challenge

Google the term “bump key” and watch the videos. Then contact a lock manufacturer and ask about the bump key―in particular, what products it has designed to meet this challenge. It’s a good idea to do this before one of your tenants asks you the same questions, and certainly before an intruder or one of your customers decides to try out key-bumping at your facility. Of course, since there will be hardly any evidence that a lock has been bumped, you may not have to account for key-bumping until a customer reports a mysterious theft.

Rich Morahan is a marketing consultant for Lock America International. He frequently writes and conducts seminars on self-storage marketing and security. To reach him, call 617.240.0372; e-mail rmwrite@comcast.net; visit www.laigroup.com.

Is document shredding a recycling or a security operation? Many companies merely want to dispose of piles of paper, but for many businesses, especially in the retail, legal, medical and research industries, there is a lot of valuable information in those secure bins, information that is valuable to competitors and to criminals.

Document destruction industry marketing brochures emphasize locked containers, the chain of custody and bonded drivers. Current NAID (National Association for Information Destruction) AAA Certification standards require drug-tested drivers and locked containers.

The concept of a “locked container,” however, covers a wide range of security levels.

A locked cabinet or bin is supposed to prevent the kind of document theft that hits the headlines every month, whether it’s a celebrity’s medical records or financial information. The customers of shredding companies are told to keep their bins and cabinets locked. Shredding companies usually make the collection process convenient for their drivers by using the same key for all their customers. That means they also give the same key to each of their customers. But, if that’s the same key the company down the street or the competitor across town has, or if the company doesn’t control its key, that convenience can potentially destroy the security.

If every customer of a shredding company has the same key, the console or bin may be tamper evident or even tamper proof, but that console or bin is not secure. And what is even worse, that console or bin appears to be secure when it is not. If a shredding company provides a locking console or a bin with a padlock to a customer without telling that customer that he shares the same key code with all the company’s other customers, there is only an illusion of security. You could even say that that “the illusion of security” creates a greater level of liability than no security at all.

APPROPRIATE CONTROL

To protect the chain of custody, the first step is to ensure that you help your customers control the keys in their possession. Renee Keener, president of American Document Securities Inc., a Carrollton, Ga.-based records management company specializing in shredding, storage and consulting for the information protection industry, recognizes the role of key control in maintaining the chain of custody. Her company provides locked containers to its customers and provides keys only to people the customer has authorized. Customers need access to documents awaiting shredding, but to protect the chain of custody, American Document Securities and its customers control that access. As Renee says, “There are liabilities on both sides.”

The necessary second step in protecting the chain of custody is to take a long look at the convenience vs. security question. What if a bank or medical customer keeps careful control of its keys, but another customer does not. People change jobs and go to work for a competitor, and a secure company could be victimized by the loose procedures of another company that doesn’t control its key.

At a minimum, a shredding company that promises secure shredding should consider providing a different key code for each of its customers and should emphasize that security feature in all its marketing, for example, by stating, “For your protection, only your company has your key code.”

PROVIDING OPTIONS

A shredding company also can provide additional levels of lock security for padlocked bins and cabinets beyond assigning an individual key code to each of its customers.

A five- or six-pin tumbler padlock can provide low or medium security. Until recently, it took more than a casual thief to pick a five- or six-pin tumbler padlock, but now a new method, “the bump key,” can turn an amateur picker into a pro in a few minutes. If you haven’t heard of “the bump key,” just enter the term in Google or any Internet search engine. You’ll find dozens of videos that show you how to file down a standard key and easily “bump” open virtually any pin tumbler lock. It’s so easy that one video shows a 10-year-old girl opening a lock in seconds.

Some companies offer a combination lock, which allows the customer to set a unique combination. Unfortunately, a face dial “gym locker” lock is easier to pick than a pin tumbler lock. For a higher level, shredding companies should provide a four-wheel combination lock.

However, if a thief isn’t concerned about hiding the data theft, a pin tumbler padlock or a combination lock can be easily cut off with a bolt cutter.

A disk lock, popular in the self-storage industry, employs a “hidden shackle,” which resists a bolt cutter. With a pick resistant key and keyway, this type of lock becomes stronger than the console or bin. A pick resistant keyway works with rotating disks and side bar rather than a series of pins and cannot be picked or bumped with any tool or technique available on the Internet.

These options provide security against a casual thief and evidence of tampering.

A console provides stronger protection than a bin. The way to increase the lock security of a cabinet is to go beyond a standard cut key and use and use a high-security lock in combination with a camlock. Because a console is harder to break into than a bin, its lock should have a higher level of security than an ordinary lock.

SECURITY PLUS CONVENIENCE

When Lock America’s CEO Frank Minnella spoke to cabinet manufacturers who were exhibiting at a recent industry conference, many of them wanted to know if he could supply them with locks with the same key code as other lock manufacturers. They didn’t just want the key code that they already had—all these manufacturers wanted the same key code. As I have said, this situation creates potential security liabilities, for shredding companies, for
their customers and for the shredding industry.

Shredding contractors take measures to keep their customers’ consoles and bins secure and tamper-evident. But can any company’s consoles and bins be secure if another company has the same key? If the shredding company wants to provide secure shredding, it needs to provide a key control system, with the marketing message: “The bin contains your data, and it is secured with your unique lock and key.”

A shredding company can set itself apart from its competition by using different lock systems to provide appropriate levels of security and convenience for its customers. For customers who need high security, such as banks, labs, law offices and medical facilities, it can provide a high security key and keyway with a master system. A high security master key system provides millions of usable key codes, so that each customer can be assured that no other customers have the same key code. And a high security keyway is virtually pick and drill-proof. The master key, controlled by the driver, allows the driver access without requiring a ring of keys.

Even if they do not go to the high security master key level, shredding companies need to go beyond generic retail market padlocks and provide genuine security for the flow of confidential information to protect their company’s reputation and their customers’ data. This added value will attract the high-end security-conscious customers that provide a long-term revenue stream.

Rich Morahan is a marketing consultant for Lock America International. He frequently writes and conducts seminars on self-storage marketing and security. To reach him, call 617.240.0372; e-mail rmwrite@comcast.net; visit www.laigroup.com.

When you formulate your security plan, put yourself in your renter’s shoes. Look at your facility from outside in. Are sight lines through the property open to expose illegal activity to passers-by and the police? Are your gate-access codes assigned or do they at least require letters and numbers to make them difficult to guess? Do you require an access and exit log-in to keep a record of how long each person is on the site?

Jim DelSordo of Automated Security Corp. consults and installs electronic security systems, gates, access control, cameras and door alarms. He points out that the higher the level of security you can demonstrate to prospective tenants, the easier it will be to rent units and attract better-quality customers.

John Fogg of Sentinel Systems Corp. markets a comprehensive access-control and property-management system. He acknowledges that you can make a considerable investment in technology; but when you make that investment, you must broadcast and demonstrate it to your prospects.

When Fogg was a sales rep for a facility, he often “forgot” to disable the door alarm when showing a unit, allowing him to give the potential renter a demonstration when he opened the door. Let them experience your security. A commercial customer or private customer with quality goods to store will pay a premium for security features, and these same features may deter a thief.

But don’t be too dazzled by all the high-tech security bells and whistles. DelSordo sells high-tech, but he points out that it is also critical to have a lock program. High-tech may get a prospect in the gate, but you have to sell him right down to the door, your last line of defense. Don’t neglect the low-tech final step—high-quality, high-security door locks.

Think of security as a chain. Your system is only as strong as its weakest link. In your security program, protect your facility at every entry point and, in your sales presentation, highlight each link, from curb to door.

Jim Chiswell of Chiswell & Associates LLC, has consulted on hundreds of self-storage startups in the last 20 years. When it comes to security, he reminds us that numbers and technology can dazzle people—both customers and operators. You can have access control and a dozen cameras, but it’s the total security program that protects your site, and it is the manager whose diligence in observing the site and making lock checks who deters the criminal.

Equally important, it is your trained manager who demonstrates and sells your security features. Let the information your manager provides separate you from the competition. You are the security expert.

Stop Them at the Door

Many thieves get into facilities by renting a small unit. Your site could rely on a camera to record activity at your site, but it does not prevent a break-in. Alarms can sound, but they still leave a window for a thief, and they can be disabled.

A mass-market, hardware-store lock will not stop a bolt cutter, and neither will a mass-market disk lock if a thief takes a bolt cutter to a slide bolt, which more of them are doing.

When you invest in technology, match that investment with a cylinder lock that inserts right in the door. For a few dollars a door, using more than a conventional lock, you can demonstrate to your renter that your facility provides stronger security than the competition. Use a sample lock and latch system on your counter to demonstrate how your door security surpasses the competition.

This interactive sales approach may require your manager to be less of a landscaper and more of a sales representative. The choice is yours. In a competitive market, with more women renting, and crime and safety more of an issue, can you expect to succeed with a passive approach to security?

Bill Green of Double J Court Self Storage in Wickenburg, Ariz., considers security to be a key component to separating him from his competition. He markets his security on the phone, in the Yellow Pages and on his website, and he continues marketing after he makes the sale as well.

According to Double J’s website, the company spent $10,000 on a new lock-and-latch system by L.A.I. The system, featuring a locking cylinder that is inserted into the door so the lock and latch are nearly flush-mounted, “will provide much higher security. It also means that you do not need to buy a lock.”

As Green says, “We want an informed customer.” He wants his customers to feel secure, and to remind their neighbors that security, more than convenience or even price, is the reason to choose a self-storage facility.

Another security-focused operator, Norm Kotoch of Highland Heights, Ohio, broadcasts his message in the facility name: Security Self Storage. Kotoch is an attorney aware of the danger of promising security if he can’t deliver it. He lists the security features of his five facilities: access-controlled gates, cameras, door alarms, and the same type of high-security cylinder lock system Green builds his security and message around. As Kotoch’s website says, “We constantly strive to offer state-of-the-art features like our individual door alarms, 24-hour DVR surveillance and recessed cylinder locks.”

Like Green, Kotoch considers his site managers “sales managers” whose job is to sell features. They broadcast security to attract the right customers and deter the dangerous ones.

To ensure the highest level of security and to meet the concerns of local fire and police, Kotoch installed high-security, master-keyed systems in three of his facilities. As an attorney, he is aware of liability concerns, but as a business operator, he knows how to deal with those concerns. Access to the master key is limited to management. Every renter is made aware of the master-key system, and signs an acknowledgement waiver along with the rental application. Knowing that the facility provides fast, safe access to fire, environmental and law enforcement personnel attracts and reassures commercial and private customers.

Kotoch and Green have rented to thousands of customers in the last 10 years, and Kotoch reports only one prospect declined to rent after hearing about the system. Kotoch was happy to see him leave.

Presented properly, security sells and repels. It sells the customers you want, the commercial accounts and private renters who value their goods and property; it repels the ones you don’t want, the crooks who want to set up shop in a low-cost, low-security facility where the renter with the cheap lock is the “security expert.” In a competitive rental market, you get the edge when you market your security features, not your price.

Rich Morahan is a marketing consultant for Lock America International. He frequently writes and conducts seminars on self-storage marketing and security. To reach him, call 617.240.0372; e-mail rmwrite@comcast.net; visit www.laigroup.com.