Last Tuesday, Fidelity National Financial, or FNF, a real estate services company that the accounts themselves as the “leading provider of title insurance and escrow services and North America’s largest title insurer,” announced that it had been cyberattacked.
Since then, home owners with mortgages and prospective buyers purchasing properties with FNF or one of the many subsidiaries they are left confused and troubled, not knowing exactly what is going on or what to do.
“I feel like I’m having a meltdown. I don’t even know where my money is,” said one woman, who told TechCrunch that she sold a house in Illinois for $397,000 using IPX 1031, a broker owned by FNF.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she tried calling IPX 1031 but was unable to speak to anyone there.
When TechCrunch called a number for an employee at IPX 1031 that the woman was calling, a voicemail said “Fidelity National Financial is still experiencing a system-wide outage. We do not have access to send or receive email or access any system. We appreciate your patience.”
FNF has not responded to TechCrunch’s emails since last week.
A call Monday to FNF’s receptionist at its corporate office was met with an automated message saying the receptionist was busy. Calls to the same number on Wednesday returned the same automated message.
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The FNF website was down at the time of publication.
To date, the FNF has spoken little publicly about the incident. In a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission announcing the breach, FNF said: “We have blocked access to some of our systems, which has resulted in disruption to our business. For example, the services we provide related to title insurance, escrow and other title-related services, mortgage transaction services and technology in the real estate and mortgage industries have been affected by these measures.”
Christine Youmans, who said she is using LoanCare to pay off her mortgage, said she doesn’t know what to do. Owned by FNF, LoanCare offers “full-service subservicing to the mortgage industry, according to its website.
“Everything is shut down and nobody can pay the mortgage and you can’t get them on the phone,” Youmans told TechCrunch.
A call to a number on LoanCare’s website was answered with an automated message that said: “For those of you affected by the recent disaster, we hope you and your family are safe. We are here to help you and your family get back to normal.”
Shortly after the cyberattack, the ransomware gang known as ALPHV (or BlackCat) claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on FNF in a message posted on the gang’s official dark web site.
