A cyberattack targeting CTS, an IT services provider for law firms, has led to disruptions in real estate transactions, leaving many sales in limbo.
Many property buyers have expressed their dismay on social media, citing delays in transactions. Typically, on the day of signing, the buyer’s notary facilitates the transfer of funds to the seller’s notary. Any delay in the process technically constitutes a breach of contract.
However, a cyberattack at CTS, an IT services provider for law firms, has had a ripple effect on law firms involved in real estate transactions. CTS, which was targeted by hackers last weekis still working to restore its services, but the attack impacted approximately 80 law firms.
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The real estate market is the victim of a cyberattack
In response to the incident, CTS said it was working with a leading international cyber forensics company to conduct an urgent investigation into the incident and assist in the restoration of service. However, the company was unable to provide a specific timeline for fully restoring service.
On social media, shoppers expressed frustration with the company’s lack of transparency. The impact of the cyber incident on real estate transactions has raised concerns about potential disruption and harm to consumers. As of the last update, CTS has not provided further details about the incident. The company assured it was actively working to restore service, but said the situation was more complex than expected.
CTS has not revealed the nature of the incident or whether any sensitive data was compromised. For now, the CLC (Council for Licensed Conveyancers), the UK’s property law regulator, has acknowledged that some transactions have been disrupted and has called on affected businesses to minimize disruption and damage potential for consumers.
Speaking to Bleeping Computer, CTS customer O’Neil Patient highlighted the broad impact of the outage on various organizations in the industry, noting that the vendor specializes in secure legal systems for many law firms and barristers chambers. Patient assured thatthere was currently no evidence of a data integrity breachbut that the systems would not be brought back online until security guarantees had been obtained.