Stay Informed and In-The-Know

As a value-added service to our clients and others with an interest in the mortgage lending industry, Bankers Insurance Service posts timely news and articles of interest about topics and issues that impact us. From housing market predictions to mortgage fraud schemes; from cybersecurity to FEMA, and more, we encourage you to check back frequently for new information of interest. Have a relevant topic you’d like us to post about? Please email us at BIS@bankersinsuranceservice.com with your suggestion.

February 2024

Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation Confirms Data Breach Following “Operational Incident” Involving Third-Party Vendor

On February 2, 2024, Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation (“Fairway”) filed a notice of data breach with the Attorney General of Massachusetts after discovering that an unauthorized user had accessed a third-party system utilized by Fairway. In this notice, Fairway explains that the incident resulted in an unauthorized party being able to access consumers’ sensitive information, which includes their names, Social Security number, dates of birth, addresses, bank account information and credit card account numbers. Upon completing its investigation, Fairway began sending out data breach notification letters to all individuals whose information was affected by the recent data security incident.

If you received a data breach notification from Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation, it is essential you understand what is at risk and what you can do about it.

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February 2024

Planet Home Lending Discloses Ransomware Attack

Months after a ransomware attack that occurred on Nov. 15, 2023, Planet Home Lending is reporting the incident to nearly 200,000 customers and offering two years of credit monitoring and identity theft services. The company attributes the cybersecurity breach to vulnerability in third-party vendor software.

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December 2023

Hurriquakes. Are you prepared?

Unsual weather phenomenons such as 'Hurriquakes' can cause questions about what to do when the borrower receives property damage by a peril for which the borrower isn't required to have insurance. Find out the role Mortgage Impairment Insurance can play in this.

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November 2023

Who's to blame for climate change? Scientists don't hold back in new federal report.

Climate change is here and prompting unprecedented actions in every state to curb the greenhouse gas emissions fueling warming temperatures, but a new federal report out on November 14, 2023 says bigger, bolder steps are needed.

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November 2023

Cyberattack hits Mr. Cooper, blocks millions of mortgage payments

Mortgage servicing provider Mr. Cooper Group shut down multiple systems after it determined a threat actor accessed certain technology systems on Oct. 31, according to a Thursday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company initiated precautionary containment measures in response to the cyberattack, a move that’s temporarily halting recurring payments and leading customers to make one-time loan payments online, via phone, email or third parties. The status of customers’ loans were last updated Oct. 31.

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May 2023

Climate change is bad for everyone. But this is where it's expected to be worst in the US.

If you’re thinking about a long-term real estate investment or shopping for a place to settle down for 20 or 30 years, you might be wondering which cities or states could fare better than others in a changing climate.

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April 2023

Ransomware attacks on the rise again: Report

There was a notable uptick in ransomware incidents in February and March after a period of relative stagnation in 2022, according to a report released Wednesday April 26th, 2023.

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April 2023

Experts call for lenders to strengthen security amid uptick in cyberattacks

The mortgage industry still faces the same cybersecurity threats as it did over the last 10 years. In turn, efforts to strengthen infrastructure and security are becoming even more important, experts emphasized on April 3rd at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Technology Solutions Conference Expo in San Jose, California.

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March 2023

Budgets, staffing hamper cybersecurity for midsized businesses

Midsized businesses with fewer than 2,000 employees have significant cybersecurity vulnerabilities, with many either unprepared, understaffed and/or underresourced, says a survey issued March 15th.

Respondents identified gaps in budgeting, staffing and skill sets as obstacles to deploying robust security programs, according to the survey of 256 private sector businesses in the U.S. and Canada.

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July 2022

42K Louisiana homeowners dropped by insurance company Friday

More than 40,000 homeowners are looking for new insurance policies after an insurance company dropped them, following similar moves by two other companies.

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July 2022

5 Cybersecurity Questions CFOs Should Ask CISOs

Here are five questions CFOs should be asking their CISOs about the security of their companies.

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June 2022

Flagstar reports data breach affecting 1.5 million clients

Hackers stole social security numbers in December, but the company discovered it in June.

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June 2022

Ransomware losses, frequency increase rates: Howden

Ransomware’s loss frequency and severity has resulted in the coverage’s cost almost doubling from last year, says a report released June 6th, 2022.

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November 2018

You Probably Aren’t Covered for the Next Cyber Incident. Here’s Why

Assuming cyber policies will respond to any loss related to the use of a computer could leave companies in a bind.

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April 2022

The growing threat of phishing attacks on the mortgage industry

Loan officers and mortgage executives alike continue to click on links in seemingly routine emails, ultimately giving bad actors complete access to lenders’ systems and mortgage transactions. Such mistakes can cost companies millions of dollars and expose sensitive data from millions of customers.

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March 2022

Purchase market could exacerbate mortgage lenders’ cybersecurity weak spots

Cyberattacks are on the rise in recent weeks, as sanctions on Russia push its economy to the breaking point and mortgage lenders may have unique vulnerabilities.

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January 2022

Cyber-Attacks: A Growing Threat To Our Financial Institutions

An uptick of cyber-attacks are predicted to cause havoc with U.S. businesses including major corporations and financial institutions.

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September 2021

Ransomware threats more frequent, sophisticated: Study

“The increasing frequency and loss magnitude caused by ransomware incidents is a huge concern for insurers and organizations,” says a study issued by cyber risk and response company NetDiligence.

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July 2021

Work from home fueling cyberattacks, says financial watchdog

Financial firms may need to bolster their defenses in the face of rocketing cyberattacks after employees began working from home, the Financial Stability Board said on Tuesday.

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July 2021

Ransomware imperils title, mortgage industry

Ransomware attackers hit major title industry cloud services provider Cloudstar, stopping an untold number of loans from closing.

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June 2021

2 earthquakes in 3 days rattle ... Baltimore

When we think about earthquakes in the US, they're usually somewhere around Los Angeles, or maybe Alaska, right? But Baltimore?

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June 2021

Fires threaten nearly 40% of all Utah homes

Nearly two out of every five homes in Utah face high fire risk — that’s more than 400,000 properties, the highest share of any state in the Western U.S., according to a new study.

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December 2020

Cost of ransomware attacks doubles: Beazley

The total cost of ransomware payments by Beazley PLC clients doubled year-over-year through the first six months of 2020 as the severity of ransomware attacks increased, the specialist insurer said in a report Wednesday (12/16/20).

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November 2020

The Ransomware Epidemic

Ransomware is, by multiple measures, the top cyber threat facing businesses today¹. Unlike data breach, ransomware is a risk without discretion. Any company that either requires access to critical data, or faces loss or hardship in the event of business interruption is a potential ransomware victim.

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June 2020

Ransomware continues to dominate cyber discussion: Aon

Ransomware continues to dominate the cyber insurance discussion according to broker Aon, with total ransomware incidents up 135% last year and carriers steadily fielding more claims emanating from these attacks.

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June 2020

Cloud-based cyber attacks increased 630% globally between January to April this year: Report

Titled ‘Cloud Adoption & Risk Report – Work-from-Home Edition’, the report reveals a correlation between the increased use of cloud services and collaboration tools such as Cisco WebEx, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Slack to increase in cyberattacks.

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May 2020

Cyber-attacks on mortgage professionals on the rise during COVID-19

When COVID-19 slammed into the US like a meteor, one corner of life most reshaped by the resulting shockwaves is how we work. Millions of Americans are now working from home for the first time in their lives.

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April 2020

Hacking against firms surges as workers take computers home

Hacking activity against corporations in the United States and other countries more than doubled by some measures last month as digital thieves took advantage of security weakened by pandemic work-from-home policies, researchers said.

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November 2019

Those free, innocent-looking USB charging ports could rob you blind

Juice jacking is the devious practice by which bad guys hijack a public USB charging port and use it to steal information from your phone or tablet.

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November 2019

Disaster Coverage Is a Disaster for Most

Many -- if not most -- homeowners aren’t prepared for a flood, tornado or other natural disaster. And neither, apparently, are their insurance companies.

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November 2019

Cyber insurance becomes big business with the resurgence of ransomware

With ransomware attacks sweeping the world, cyber insurance continues to be big business in 2019.

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March 2019

Beazley data reveals a 133% increase in business email compromise incidents from 2017 to 2018

The latest Beazley Breach Briefing, based on information gleaned from investigations into more than 3,300 data incidents in 2018, takes an in-depth look at how the common breaches are perpetrated, and how businesses can deal with them.

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February 2019

Large breach of mortgage borrowers’ data raises new concerns, questions

A large breach of mortgage data that has exposed the personal financial information of tens of thousands of borrowers raises key consumer questions.

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January 2019

Millions of sensitive mortgage documents exposed in massive data breach

TechCrunch reports on exposure of 10 years of mortgage documents.

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January 2019

Average cost of a cyber attack climbs to $1.1M

Most impactful problems are productivity loss and negative customer experience, according to a new report.

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December 2018

Most companies hit by more than one major cyberattack in the past two years

Almost two in three businesses have suffered two or more business-disrupting cyberevents in the past 24 months.

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December 2018

A third of cyber attacks exploit unsecure remote working

Report claims business leaders are failing to educate employees about cyber security risks.

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December 2018

New Phishing Scam Targets Banks and Mortgage Lenders

A global network of digital miscreants has reportedly created a list of 50,000 executives at banks and mortgage companies to target for online scams.

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July 2018

Three emerging cybersecurity trends to focus on in 2018

These are the trends your company should look out for

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June 2018

Back To Cyber Basics: Debunking 5 Cyber Myths

Risk & Innovation

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May 2018

Mortgage Fraud Scheme Uses Fake Employers

Bogus businesses listed on loan applications

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May 2018

Cybersecurity experts: Data breaches are a matter of when, not if

So you better be prepared

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April 2018

Ransomware and wire fraud are low-hanging fruit for criminals

MBA Tech: Here are the biggest cybersecurity threats to mortgage companies right now

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April 2018

Could class actions hit this insurance line next?

Shareholder class action lawsuits could soon make their presence felt in the cyber insurance market, an expert has said.

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March 2018

Awareness of cyber risk is increasing, but some companies may be neglecting to prepare adequate resp

Cyber First Responders

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March 2018

28 million Americans live in flood zones and don't know it, study finds

See the top 20 ZIP codes that received the most FEMA assistance applications following Hurricane Harvey.

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March 2018

Equifax reveals 2.4 million more people were victims of data breach

Additional names and partial driver’s license information stolen by hackers

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February 2018

Here are four housing predictions for 2018

Entry-level home prices could increase up to 11%

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February 2018

Senior execs at Vanguard Funding admit to embezzling $8.9 millio

CFO and COO plead guilty to using warehouse loans for personal expenses.

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