When a major title company fell victim to a recent cyberattack, several Chicago-area real estate transactions also fell victim.
Hackers have breached the systems of Chicago Title’s parent company, Florida-based Fidelity National Financial, delaying the closing of real estate deals and impacting home sales in the Chicago area, Crain’s reports.
Real estate agents and lawyers reported delays ranging from 30 minutes to indefinite postponements, causing inconvenience to buyers, sellers, and other parties involved in the transaction. The uncertainty about when systems will be up and running again is reminiscent of the early days of the pandemic, when people were scrambling to find alternative solutions.
The hack, which occurred on November 19, affected Fidelity’s title insurance and mortgage trading divisions. Despite initial expectations that the company would resolve the issue by Sunday, delays continue. An error message appears on Fidelity’s website, but the company has not commented on the current situation.
Kathy Nosek, managing broker at 4C Realty in Glen Ellyn, reported an incident in which the Nov. 22 closing process took about an hour and a half longer than usual. This wasn’t a big deal, but they expressed concern about the potential impact if the problem lingered.
“We don’t want a buyer who has a moving truck out front and can’t pick up the keys until they get the financing (for the purchase),” Nosek told the outlet. “Then everything would come to a screeching halt.”
The incident marks the second cyberattack on the Chicago-area real estate industry in recent months. Unlike the August attack, which affected distributors’ ability to sell products, the latest hack disrupts the transaction process where funds and financial information are exchanged.
Ransomware group Alphv/Black Cat claimed responsibility for the hack, but there are no reports of funds or financial information being stolen. Fidelity is a company with $9.1 billion in revenue in 2022 and accounted for 31 percent of the U.S. title business in 2020, the newspaper reported.
— Quinn Donahue