Recently, more than 800 million mortgage-related files were leaked by title insurance company First American Financial Corporation. The data — which included consumers’ bank-account numbers, Social Security numbers and more — was exposed due to an error in the company’s site. This massive mistake serves as a good reminder that you should be cautious about your financial data when going through the house-buying process. Here’s some tips on how to do just that.
Update Your Passwords
As Marketwatch Opens a new windowreports, there will be lots of sensitive information shared when buying a house. Before you start that process, change all of your passwords and enable two-factor authentication if it’s an option.
Ask About Security
Ask every mortgage lender about their cybersecurity policies. If they don’t have a good answer — at the very least, they should be keeping all info in encrypted databases — you should go with someone else.
