Real Estate’s Second Biggest Title Insurer Gets Sideswiped By Ransomware Attack
The Key Points:
- The nation’s second largest title insurer, known for its substantial hold on the real estate market, is grappling with a brutal hack-a-thon, having its system breached by a ransomware group. Chronically innocent computers were taken offline as collateral damage, much to the company’s chagrin.
- The unsolicited code-tickling guests disrupting the company’s network are part of a ransomware group known as Blackcat, ALPHV, and on occasion, Noberus, because crime is all about the branding.
- These cyber calamity enthusiasts aren’t new to the game. They’ve already left digital graffiti in over 1,000 innocent machines. That’s enough to form an illustrious list of victims that would make any self-respecting cyber criminal raise an intrigued eyebrow.
My Hot Take:
As someone versed in both property jargon and digital gibberish, I can’t help but christen this the cyber equivalent of a stake sign dramatically crashing onto a manicured suburban lawn. This hack-a-thon isn’t just a blow to our title insurer’s security ego, but it also poses a resounding question: Are we spending too much time perfecting our coffee-to-cream ratio and not enough on fortifying our digital fortresses?
With Blackcat, ALPHV, or Noberus — seriously, pick a name, guys — leaving their digital pawprints on over 1,000 victims, it’s clear these hacking shenanigans aren’t just confined to playground bullies anymore. This infiltration shows that in the real estate world, where business is usually done in high-rises instead of dark alleys, nobody’s immune to a cyber stickup.
Remember, in this age of binary buttons and flashing pixels, covering your assets also means shielding your bytes. And a title may help you claim a piece of land, but good luck trying to evict a stubborn piece of ransomware from your server.
Original article: https://www.inman.com/2023/12/21/title-insurer-first-american-financial-is-hackers-latest-target/