As time, technology and hackers move forward, so must we . . . there are any numbers of reasons why title companies have moved to encrypted email. In a nutshell, the below Act mandates they use encrypted email.
Safeguards Rule, enacted under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, requires financial institutions to implement reasonable policies and procedures to ensure the security and confidentiality of sensitive non-public customer information (NPI). In addition we must encrypt certain documents containing NPI in accordance with CFPB compliance requirements and ALTA Best Practices requirements.
The situation has become serious enough that on March 18 the Federal Trade Commission issued a joint warning with the Realtors association about the threats to settlement funds.
For the hackers to pull off their attacks, hackers typically break into email accounts, attorney, lender, broker/agent, escrow and watch for references to forthcoming closing transactions on properties. They can obtain all the information on a transaction from a non-encrypted emailed copy of the Contract and/or Commitment. From these items and their monitoring of the email traffic, they can learn the identities of buyers, sellers, lender reps, attorneys, the company names of title and escrow providers and the timing of scheduled closings. Once inside anyone of these accounts, they can effectively take over the identity and provide credible instructions to clients. Unlike the cartoonish scammers of years past who couldn't spell and mangled English, today's artful hackers know the lingo and even pick up and mimic the conversational styles of the exchanging emails.
Help us protect the integrity of your transactions; accept encrypted emails.
I have found any attachment sent from title company will be encryted.
Spirit
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