Ransomware Attack May Put Some Closings in Jeopardy

Cloudstar, one of the largest cloud-based services in title insurance, remains offline after a cyberattack last week.
Ransomware And Code Hacking Background

© solarseven - iStock/Getty Images Plus

Cloudstar, one of the largest cloud services in title insurance, remains offline after a ransomware attack last week. Cloudstar is a cloud-based hosting service that provides support to more than 42,000 title and settlement professionals across the country. The attack and resulting outage could delay some real estate transactions.

Cloudstar’s main user base is in the real estate and title industry, and the ransomware attack has prevented some real estate brokers from registering transactions and property closings, according to media reports.

Last week, the company announced it had been hit by a “highly sophisticated ransomware attack” that forced it to halt most of its services. Many of its services are still offline. The company is maintaining a status page for the latest updates.

The company’s July 20 update said it was working with third-party experts to investigate the scope of the attack and identify which of its systems were impacted by the malware. “We are still very much in the containment and remediation phase,” the company notes. “As soon as we have a definitive timeline to share in terms of when we will be back up and running, we will do so.”

In the meantime, the American Land Title Association reports that several software vendors and title companies are stepping in to offer services to help keep real estate deals on track for closing. Read more.

Advertisement