ABT Blog

Every October since 2004, the United States has observed National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Computer security is always important, but the month when spooks, zombies, and demons are on display is a fitting time for the mortgage business to give it focused attention.

With all the changes going on in the world of technology today, it's apparent to us that mortgage companies need more (and better) data to drive their business and security decisions. With MortgageWorkSpace® now featuring Business Intelligence, mortgage companies can easily obtain, organize, and act on that information from the cloud-based platform they know and love.

As data security professionals, it's clear to us why mortgage companies should be using multi-factor authentication (MFA) in their businesses. Yet many mortgage firms are still resistant to adopting this technology for fear that it will only complicate processes and slow productivity. However, the benefits of this added security far outweighs the additional effort it requires.

Hackers are more persistent now than ever before, and they’ll stop at nothing to get at your sensitive data. International hackers are now specifically targeting mortgage companies because of the wealth of personal information contained in their systems. Mortgage businesses are among the largest security targets, due to the fact that they deal with the largest amount of personal information that can be used for identity theft.

More and more, financial institutions are being forced to grapple with security issues, concerning the advanced technologies their employees and vendors are using in day-to-day business. While some are embracing SaaS cloud computing for a more centralized and secure way of lending, others are apprehensive about embracing the transition.

In today’s increasingly mobile world, more and more businesses are allowing their employees to use their mobile devices for work, especially when those employees are on the road or working from home. As a result, mobile security is more important than ever for protecting businesses from the threat of an information breach. In fact, despite mounting evidence of growing security threats, many companies still disregard mobile security as a priority. And in the mortgage industry, where your company handles such quantities of private information, ignoring security on mobile devices is a gamble you cannot afford to make.

In the last 18 months, the world has seen a sharp rise in cyber-attacks. Last year the term “data breach” became mainstream vernacular. In 2014, the Wall Street Journal devoted 1,102 articles related to data breaches up by more than 50% from the 470 articles from the previous year.  Thinking about how much financial data your mortgage firm deals with on a daily basis is enough to make your head spin. Because of this, you probably find yourself thinking about mortgage company security all the time. But if those concerns are keeping you up at night, it may be time to think more seriously about what kind of security you're using and whether it's really working to ward off cyber dangers.Last year, The Los Angeles Times did a piece about how vulnerable mortgage companies really are to the above threats. The report came from a cyber security firm called Halock Security Labs and an extensive study on mortgage lenders about their security vulnerabilities. In the report, the firm found that out of those surveyed, seven out of 10 mortgage firms sent digital data without proper encryption.