3 important cybersecurity tips for real estate companies

CYBERSECURITY is a concern to all businesses, especially for those that hold personal identification as well as financially-sensitive data.

Unfortunately, less than 20 percent of companies in Asia are actually insured against cyberattacks.

One of the lowest hanging fruits for cybercriminals is the real-estate industry.

Be it real-estate companies, property lawyers, or mortgage providers, there is no exception in the vying eyes of cybercriminals.

In the aftermath of the LandMark White data breach in Australia that caused banks such as Commonwealth Bank of Australia and ANZ to lose 100,000 customer records, there’s a renewed emphasis on cybersecurity in the real-estate industry.

Here are a few things real-estate businesses must look into when reviewing their IT policies to prevent cyberattacks:

#1 | Business email compromise

This form of breach usually targets employees with access to the organization’s financial data.

Attackers will compromise legitimate business email accounts through social engineering or computer intrusion to lure unauthorized data and fund transfers.

In the real-estate context, attackers will usually disguise as the property owner or CEO.

#2 | Mortgage-closing wire scam

Similarly to business email compromise, this other form of breach lure unauthorized data and fund transfer.

However, instead of sending out emails via a legitimate business email account, it will just be a realistic-looking email content that targets property buyers.

The email may be complete with instructional notes and the same design as well as brand voice as the organization. However, the payment link will wire to the attacker’s bank account instead.

#3 | Cloud-computing providers

It makes more sense for cybercriminals to be targeting realtor groups instead of individual real-estate organizations.

The easiest way is to focus their breach on cloud service providers that host a good list of real-estate organizations.

This means to say that cyberattacks on cloud-computing companies will enable access to several sets of data all at once.

With all things considered, it is highly recommended for businesses to keep their digital systems up-to-date and secure.

As businesses become increasingly reliant on digital platforms, cybersecurity measures must grow as well.

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