Anyone who has sat at a settlement table signing document after document to buy a house does not give much thought to the amount of data they are creating or to how that data will be protected.
We do.
Our clients trust us to manage the ongoing life of a loan — and without necessarily knowing it, so do homeowners. It is a challenging responsibility that grows more challenging almost every day. But we’re prepared for the challenge.
There’s hardly a month when we go without reading of a malware or ransomware attack that has temporarily crippled a business and exposed sensitive customer data. It is rarely the case that those companies did not try to protect their data, but for every security advance there seems to be a corresponding advance in the processes and technologies that allow global criminals to gain sensitive information, motivated by profit or simple malice.
Along with vigilance and preparation, agility is one of the most needed skills to respond efficiently to cyberattacks.
Every process we use to manage portfolios must be monitored for vulnerabilities. Like any organization of any size, we continue to move data to what is commonly call ‘the cloud’.
Migrating data to the cloud offers companies the chance to secure only as much storage space as needed. Cloud storage is far more environmentally friendly and offers better data back-up opportunities.
It also allows us to access the data remotely. This remote access allowed employees to work from home through the darkest days of the pandemic, and it surely was a primary component in the ongoing continuity for many global businesses.
Yet, the idea that any employee could access cloud data does not mean that every employee should have access to cloud data. It is vitally important that we protect information by granting access only as needed.
We need to reevaluate continually our so-called ‘attack surface’. It involves visualizing both our total business and each of its component parts for vulnerabilities.
None of us responsible for Cenlar data security has the hubris to declare ourselves invulnerable.
In fact, to paraphrase a well-worn truism, we have seen our enemies, and they are us. In our personal lives, many of us have become willing to sacrifice privacy for reasons both important and trivial. It is an attitude we cannot bring to the workplace or to our responsibility to protect sensitive information. Most of us are beyond typing our initials and 1234 as a six-digit password. But we need to be more vigilant than that.
What we secure are more than just digital bits, it is the private life of every customer. We remain aware of that importance. We will continue to invest in the technologies and processes that assure data security. We will remain not only committed but agile.
Meeting the Challenge of Cyber Security with Vigilance, Preparation and Agility
