What Real Estate Firms Should Know About Protecting Client Data

A lot of people who have never worked in real estate tend to be guilty of whittling the job down to just two things: showing people around houses, and driving around the city to erect and dismantle For Sale and Sold signs. They make the job sound pretty simple – almost like we’re just playing at the role, rather than pouring every ounce of energy and professionalism we have into keeping 6- or 7-figure deals from falling through, convincing buyers to compromise on a 3-page list of non-negotiables, keeping every finger on the pulse of the national real estate market and risking professional liability every single day to keep the lights on and the city’s housing market afloat. 

So, yeah, there are some pretty big misconceptions out there. 

The trouble is, this means a lot of people enter into the profession not realizing the huge pressures that come with it. Not only are we responsible for ensuring that buyers are actually sufficiently informed to take on a debt that will last them the next forty to fifty years of their lives, but we also have to protect some of their most sensitive data throughout that entire professional relationship. 

It’s one of those things that newcomers will nod along with, but may not realize quite how much work it takes to keep clients safe. Below, we’ll look at what’s actually at stake – and how modern solutions for pentest teams can be your new armor against disaster.

What are we protecting? 

Property transactions involve large sums, identity documents, bank details, extensive financial histories and signature after signature, all in one place. If that’s not an attractive package for attackers, then it’s hard to say what is. 

Most companies hold at least some of that information on their customers’ behalf, but very few professionals – outside of, say, bankers and lawyers – will hold absolutely everything. So, it turns out that real estate agents hold a lot of keys, and not just to front doors…

Wire fraud and business email compromise are two of the most common ways that real estate firms end up unwillingly sacrificing these sensitive pieces of information to bad actors, and the consequences can be devastating. For clients, it can mean identity theft and a complete loss of autonomy over who knows what about us. For real estate agents, it can mean insurmountable fines and massive reputational damage. 

It doesn’t take repeated offenses, either. A single compromised transaction can cause irreversible financial and reputational damage.

How Penetration Testing Identifies Vulnerabilities Before Attackers Do

Everything is stored electronically these days, and cyber threats are always evolving. This means that the only way to keep clients safe – short of switching to paper documents, which will position your business somewhere in the twentieth century ‘dark ages’ and likely lose you all your business anyway – is to ensure that your cyber defenses are constantly monitored and evolving, too. 

Penetration testing is one of the most effective ways to monitor those defenses. It involves viewing a company’s system from the outside, and utilizing hackers’ most advanced tactics against the site in order to figure out what would work if someone tried to breach you, and what you’re safe against. 

It’s a time-consuming and labour-intensive process, but modern pentest tools that automate report writing and bring all the separate tools under one roof make it far more efficient. Companies have the option of working with expert teams who know exactly what needs to be checked, and how thoroughly.