ONLINE SECURITY
Hackers Having A Banner Year
Even during a pandemic, there are other viruses to worry about BY MATTHEW BRODERICK | CONTRIBUTING WRITER, NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL
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ver the past several months COVID-19 – with its state-bystate fluctuation of spikes and flattening –transformed nearly all aspects of society from social life to business to education. But as millions of American from kindergarten to the corporate C-Suite transitioned to a virtual world of remote logins and teleworking, another potential threat was escalating: the heightened risk of cybercrime and ransomware. As hackers see new opportunities like a pandemic, says Nate Gravel, vice president of information security and IT for Massachusetts-based GraVoc, an information security firm with more than 450 clients, they look to exploit it. “Like anybody else, [even] hackers follow market trends,” he said. And those trends, particularly with ransomware – a type of cyberattack in which company or client data is hacked, encrypted and held for ransom - evolved in recent years in the frequency of attacks, the number
of target industries and the size of the ransom amounts.
A GROWING THREAT Cyber security threats like ransomware are not a new phenomenon. According to a 2019 report Cybersecurity Ventures, a cybercrime industry publication, global ransomware damages are projected to increase from $325 million in 2015 to $20 billion by 2021. That was the projection before the pandemic hit. The coronavirus crisis presented increased cyber risk in two ways: the increased number of employees accessing networks remotely and the intensified use of COVID-related phishing attacks, the fraudulent practice of using emails to secure personal information such as password or client details. Shawn Stroud, director of information security at Sagent, a fintech company modernizing mortgage and consumer loan servicing for banks and lenders, says malicious actors are actively targeting mortgage companies with ransomware.
“There’s basically ransomware in a box and there’s not much sophistication needed in the small end of the market.” Bob Wice, head of underwriting management for cyber & tech at Beazley Group
Even indirect attacks against city government systems have had a direct impact on mortgage operations, by shutting down systems essential for completing home sales. “This comes at a critical time for the industry, when mortgage companies are operating at capacity, and the ability to quickly service their clients is a primary concern,” said Stroud.
FINANCIAL SERVICES TARGETED Healthcare and financial services companies, including banks and mortgage brokers, remain the top two most frequently targeted sectors for cyberattacks, given the sensitive personal and financial data they maintain. A 2020 report by the Cypris Group, a Virginia-based IT firm, found that nearly one-third of all cyberattacks collectively aimed at those two sectors. It’s like the notorious bank robber Willie Lohman said when asked why he robbed banks. “Because that’s where the money is.” In 2018, finance and insurance represented 7.4% (or $1.5 trillion) of U.S. gross domestic product. In 2019, the healthcare industry generated $2.4 trillion in revenue. Despite those figures and continuing risk, reported ransomware attacks among U.S. banks have trended downward over the past year. Between April 2019 through April 2020, according to data reported by the American Banking Association, ransomware attacks in the domestic
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| NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
