Mortgage

Securing the Future: Tackling Cybersecurity Risks in the Mortgage Industry 

Cyber-attacks on the mortgage industry have surpassed being high-profile news bits; they are distress signals indicating imminent threats to the sector’s core. These breaches are not mere challenges; they’re insidious threats, undermining the consumer trust and corporate integrity that form the bedrock of financial institutions. With the average operational downtime post-breach hitting an alarming 22 days, it’s a stark reminder that technical controls—while crucial—are not the sole armor against such infringements. This post focuses on these threats and risks, detailing why technical controls aren’t enough, and looks into the often-overlooked risks posed by the human element. In particular, we’ll be looking at loan officers, who become prime targets due to the nature of their work and exposure. 

Breaches in Mortgage Banking  
Let’s face it: breaches in the mortgage sector are more than just news headlines; they’re wake-up calls. Recent incidents have shown that even large, high-revenue institutions aren’t immune. These breaches aren’t just about stolen data; they shake consumer and B2B trust, which can impact your reputation and industry relationships. Third-party breaches often have a trickle-down effect on mortgage banks, creating issues beyond the breached organizations, including affecting those using their services. 

Third-Party Interactions: A Hidden Achilles’ Heel  
Third-party vendors and partners are integral to the mortgage process, but they also open doors to potential high-impact risks. It’s a complex web of data exchange, and each connection may open you up to a possible vulnerability. Mortgage banks must shift their focus to assess better and manage third-party relationships. To limit this risk, organizations should require third parties to adhere to high data protection and cybersecurity standards, ensure they’re performing proper vendor due diligence, and provide continuous monitoring to notify you in the event of an incident proactively. 

Loan Officers: On the Frontline of Cyber Threats  
Loan officers are the unsung heroes of the mortgage world, but they’re also increasingly becoming targets for cybercriminals. Loan officers are required to be publicly available to perform their role, actively marketing their name and information to the masses. They handle vast amounts of personal financial data, often in transit, making them attractive targets. Mortgage banks should enable their employee base, especially the more publicly available staff, by empowering these professionals with the tools and knowledge to recognize and thwart cyber threats. Annual training is insufficient to build a vigilant workforce capable of identifying and preventing a cyber-attack.  

Regularly providing training on the plethora of ways humans are targeted and conducting exercises (Simulated Phishing, etc.) to test the effectiveness of this training will build resilience throughout the human element. This resilience will protect an organization from what is widely considered its most vulnerable aspect: people. Couple this with implementing technical controls as part of a robust, multi-layered security program, and organizations can prevent cyber-attacks from becoming incidents. 

Implementing Actionable, Proactive Security Measures  
The goal of implementing a robust cybersecurity program is to increase an organization’s general maturity and resilience. While a cyber attacker only has to be right once, you must be right every time. Prevention has been a focus in the cybersecurity industry; however, there isn’t a one-stop shop for preventing an attack. The proper focus of organizations should be Detection and Resilience. Adversaries live, on average, 285 days on a network before they are noticed. Reducing that dwell time and being prepared to respond to an attack will lower the cost of a breach or hopefully prevent it. An active stance, including regular security assessments and penetration testing, employee training programs, advanced threat detection tools, and incident response plans that are regularly tested and improved, will build the resilience necessary for an organization to limit the impact of a cyber-attack. While the goal is to prevent breaches, this can only happen by creating a culture of security that permeates every level of the organization. 

Summary 
In the mortgage industry, the stakes are incredibly high. A breach can mean the difference between a thriving business and a devastating collapse. You’re not just guarding data; you’re safeguarding trust, livelihoods, and the very integrity of the financial system. It’s a responsibility to take seriously, and it’s time to double down on cybersecurity.  
 
Start planning now for your defense and don’t hesitate to reach out for guidance. Need to set up a call? Email Alex Brown, Richey May’s Director, Cybersecurity Business Development.