No industry is immune to privacy and cybersecurity risks, and the real estate industry is no exception. Those in the real estate industry can protect against cyberattack by understanding the risks and vulnerabilities and developing a plan.
The industry appeals to cyberattackers in many ways. Real estate transactions contain significant amounts of personal information, including, but not limited to, financial data, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, passports numbers, insurance information, and passwords. Moreover, organizations increasingly are storing this information in the cloud, which may make it more accessible to hackers than ever before. In addition, real estate companies work with a variety of vendors, and each transaction may involve several parties, providing ample opportunity for an internal or external bad actor to wreak havoc. Finally, many real estate organizations are not yet prioritizing data privacy and security. A survey of the real estate industry by KPMG found that 30 percent of organizations had experienced a cybersecurity event in the last two years, and only 50 percent of organizations said they were prepared adequately to prevent or…
