A cyber-attack on a major UK legal managed services company has brought property sales to a standstill for up to 200 real estate agencies since last week.
While there is no evidence that clients’ personal data has been compromised, the disruption has destabilised the market and caused reputational damage to the company, CTS.
As of this morning (8:00am AEST, Nov 28) the service had not been restored and the company, which serves property conveyancers, had not confirmed a timeline for the outage to be resolved.
A statement on their website reads: "We continue to work around the clock with the assistance of third-party experts. Whilst we are confident that we will be able to restore services, we are unable to give a precise timeline for full restoration." 
WHY THIS MATTERS TO AUSTRALIANS
The incident is being scrutinised globally, highlighting the need to further tighten data security.
The Australian property conveyancing sector is served by similar managed legal service providers including triSearch Australia. Their market leading solution known as triConvey is a cloud-based practice management solution built for conveyancers providing users access to an integrated software, search and conveyancing tools platform.
triSearch Chief Executive Officer, Chris Gibbs says that “as the sophistication and scale of cyber-attacks increases a prevention only response is no longer enough.
“Businesses should assume a cyber security attack will happen and by focusing on early detection and response planning businesses can be more resilient to an attack.
The more prepared we are as a business for an attack the quicker we can bounce back and protect the interests of conveyancers, lawyers, homeowners, and buyers”, Mr Gibbs said”.
Earlier this month, Sydney-based data security strategist and consultant Shameela Gonzalez told industry publication, The Australian Conveyancer that it was more a case of when not if a cyber-attack attempt is made on the industry.
As transactions involve property and family trust funds, the stakes are high.
A director of security specialist CyberCX, Ms Gonzalez said: “In our world we talk about high-value targets. From a conveyancer point of view, one thing a criminal will consider is who are the Australians that are financially better off? What post code do they live in? What are their mortgages? The property they are buying.
“That information becomes really lucrative for cyber-criminals to then go and exploit an individual or on-sell to the information to other criminals.”
Original UK story sources:
Key Facts:
- A cyber attack on a major UK legal managed services company brought property sales to a standstill for up to 200 real estate agencies since last week.
- The incident is being scrutinised globally, highlighting the need to further tighten data security.
- triSearch's Chief Executive Chris Gibbs says that “as the sophistication and scale of cyber-attacks increases a prevention only response is no longer enough. Businesses should assume a cyber security attack will happen...
- Data security strategist and consultant Shameela Gonzalez told industry publication, The Australian Conveyancer that it was more a case of when not if a cyber attack attempt is made on the industry.
About us:
About triSearch:
triSearch is a SaaS business committed to creating time for conveyancers through innovative technology solutions.
It is our mission to build a more efficient conveyancing industry to speed up the sale and purchase of homes in Australia. Operating nationally, we provide end-to-end technology to improve workflows and create a seamless experience for conveyancers, and their clients.
Contact details:
NOTE TO JOURNALISTS AND EDITORS
This is an issue of high public interest given the financial stakes in property transactions.
On November 22, the Australian Federal Government released its 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy.
For further information about a highly relevant Australian angle to this story please contact:
Chris Gibbs, CEO of triSearch:
T: 0412 080 712
W: trisearch.com.au
Bio: Chris is an innovative, resilient, and results-driven CEO and General Manager with 25+ years of leadership experience encompassing Cyber security and Cloud services. Chris has experience across Sales and Marketing Strategy, Business Development, Account Strategy, Software-as-a-Service, Media, telecommunications, banking and finance, retail and manufacturing.