Last Tuesday, Fidelity National Financial, or FNF, a real estate services company The bills themselves As a “leading provider of title insurance and escrow services, and the largest title insurance company in North America,” the company announced it had been subjected to a cyberattack.
Since then, homeowners with mortgages and potential buyers have been purchasing properties with FNF or one of its companies Many subsidiaries They are left confused and anxious, not knowing exactly what is happening or what to do.
“I feel like I can escape. I don’t even know where my money is,” said one woman, who told TechCrunch 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 was trying to call IPX 1031 but was unable to speak to anyone there.
When TechCrunch called the number for an employee at IPX 1031 the woman was calling, a voicemail message 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. “Your patience.”
FNF has not responded to TechCrunch’s emails since last week.
A Monday call to the FNF receptionist at the 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.
So far, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation has said little publicly about the incident. In a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission As FNF announced the hack: “We have blocked access to some of our systems, disrupting our business. For example, the services we provide in relation to title insurance, escrow and other property-related services, mortgage transaction services, and technology for the real estate and mortgage industries.” Real estate has been affected by these measures.
Christine Yeomans, who said she uses LoanCare to pay off her mortgage, said she didn’t know what to do. Owned by FNF, LoanCare provides “full service to the mortgage industry, According to its website.
“Everything is closed and no one can pay the mortgage and you can’t get it over the phone,” Yeomans told TechCrunch.
A call to a number on LoanCare’s website was answered with an automated message saying: “For those affected by the recent disaster, we hope you and your family are safe. We are here to help you and your family return to normal life.”
Shortly after the cyberattack, a ransomware gang known as ALPHV (or BlackCat) It claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on FNF In a message posted on the gang’s official dark web site.