A breach at Alteryx that exposed sensitive information from more than 100 million U.S. households could add to fraud risks in housing finance.
"The recent breach of data adds to the repository of compromised consumer and personal information targeted by fraudsters to create alternative identities," said Adam Chaudhary, president of FundingShield, a mortgage industry risk management firm.
Individuals with an Amazon Web Services login could have had access to a third-party data set of consumer marketing information available from Experian earlier this year, according to Alteryx.
The information from an Alteryx database contains data that ranges "from home addresses and contact information, to mortgage ownership and financial histories," according to cybersecurity firm UpGuard.
The data exposed provides "some location information, contact information and other estimated information that is used for marketing purposes. It does not include names, credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, bank account information or passwords," according to an online statement by Alteryx CEO Dean Stoecker. The company has taken steps to ensure breaches don't recur, he said.
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Borrower impersonation done to divert funds is a growing concern "at application or closing" as a result of recent breaches, said Nick Larson, a business development manager at LexisNexis Risk Solutions.
Lenders want more controls around the increasingly digital origination process in response, according to Premium Title President James Weld, who said this was one reason his company recently integrated with Pavaso, a closing technology provider.
Automation that include audit trails and signature logging are among strategies lenders are using as a "defense against wire fraud," he said.
