Tag Archive for: Estate

Real estate and cyber liability

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Spencer Macalaster

The past 36 months have been unprecedented with respect to society, work environments and political dictates. Entire companies pivoted to remote work environments in a matter of days. The consequential strain on the IT infrastructure was also unprecedented. One consequence of this new paradigm was system vulnerabilities were exposed. Every day a new company is added to the list of systems affected by a massive data breach. Hackers responsible for these types of security breaches can hold a company ransom or worse destroy their reputational credit. In the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failures, we expect bad actors to take advantage of the events to intercept wire instructions as clients and other third parties work to reroute funds to alternative banking institutions. We would like to reiterate the need to be wary of requests to change / update payment account information for invoices or any other payments to be made by the company and encourage you to remind our clients and other valued partners of the same.

Real estate owners, developers, and asset managers are in the crosshairs of those bad actors looking to monetize on cyber vulnerabilities. Massachusetts requires companies to provide comprehensive data security to all personal information stored on a server. In addition, regulators in 47 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands require that individuals (customers, employees, citizens, students, etc.) be notified in the event their data has been lost, stolen or compromised. The most recent data breaches introduce a new twist to a company’s cyber liability exposure and potential for exposure to extortion and ransom.

Computer hacking, stolen laptops and fraud scams are the primary culprits leading to cyber liability events. Settlements can include monetary damages, credit monitoring services, hardware and software restoration, business interruption, reputational damages and ransomware payments. Companies can incur millions of dollars in expenses to secure compromised networks, assess damages, and notify customers.

Protection on any corporate database will never be 100%…

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ID, bank details, contact information at risk as cyber criminals hack PH Property Bendigo real estate agency

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A regional Victorian real estate agency has fallen victim to a data breach.

PH Property Bendigo sent an email to clients yesterday afternoon saying a staff member’s email address was hacked on March 15.

The hackers managed to get past security protocols by the company that include randomised passwords, 2-Factor Authentication for all email accounts, and an in-house internet firewall security system.

The company said four months of data was stolen which could affect about 200 customers. 

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Need to bridge digital divide, promote digital security awareness in estate sector

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From left: Uva Shakthi Foundation Chairman Suresh Nadesan receiving trilingual reports of the study that was carried out by journalists and researchers Kalavarshny Kanagaratnam and Sara Pathirana 


By Kalavarshny Kanagaratnam and 

Sara Pathirana

It is imperative, especially in this digital age, that everyone makes an effort to understand what it means to be safe online. From the moment we click a button and publish content and other information on the internet, it has already made its way to the worldwide web where the entire world can witness it and consume it. With the ascent of the recent pandemic and the way it has eased us all into a new normal where an even larger number of people around the world heavily began to rely on the internet and using it as a tool to get their work done without needing to worry about the challenges that arrived with the COVID-19 restrictions. Alongside this, the importance of digital security and our safety online too, has been heightened. 

With more people embracing the internet as technology advances, individuals look towards online activities such as hacking into social media and email accounts and stealing sensitive data from its owners. Data, people’s identities and personal images tend to be stolen and used for committing other malicious activities. Many people around the world have already faced and suffered from such problems. Women in particular are increasingly vulnerable to online threats such as cyberbullying. Therefore, it is very important to be aware of the concept of digital security.


Digital security in the estate sector


Digital Security is a collective term that describes the resources employed towards protecting one’s online identity, data, and other assets. These tools include web services, antivirus software, smartphone SIM cards, biometrics, and secured personal devices. In other words, digital security is the process used to protect one’s presence and identity online. Due to a lack of awareness about digital security, many cases of data theft and cyber violence are reported on a daily basis. 

When considering Sri Lanka’s context, the Western province in particular and other nearby provinces would usually…

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Real Estate at Risk: Industry Vulnerable to Data Breaches

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In 2018, the company that manages the Brooklyn condominium where cybersecurity expert Roman Sannikov lives was hacked.

The hacker locked down the property manager’s IT system and demanded the company pay a ransom to get back in. Sannikov, who leads a team of analysts scouring the dark web for intel on cybercrime and hacktivism, wasn’t personally affected by the breach; he pays his maintenance fees the old-fashioned way: by check. But as a member of the condo’s board, he had to notify residents and contend with the aftermath.

Yet Sannikov found that many of his neighbors simply shrugged off the news. “People didn’t pay attention to [it] as much as they should have,” he said.

A similar situation is playing out on a larger scale following last month’s data breach at Douglas Elliman’s property management arm. The company detected the breach in early April and notified residents and employees of the 390 properties it represents that their personal and financial information may have been exposed. Thousands of New Yorkers, many of whom reside in luxury condominiums and white-glove co-op buildings, may have had their data compromised.

But since the breach was revealed, there has been little outrage or concern expressed publicly by those who may have been affected.

Sannikov is just as surprised by that reaction as he was when his building was targeted. Attacks have gotten more dangerous since then, and residents of the well-heeled properties managed by Elliman’s firm face higher risks.

“A breach frequently isn’t the end of malicious activity,” said Sannikov. “It’s just the beginning.”

What’s at stake

In April, more than 500 million Facebook users had their dates of birth, phone numbers, employer information and locations hacked. It’s just the latest in a long list of massive data breaches, which often occur years before the affected parties are notified.

For example: Three billion Yahoo users had their personal information exposed in a 2014 breach that the company only acknowledged two years later. The extent of the incident wasn’t fully known until 2017. The same year,…

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