A Texas-based lender said it was hit with a ransomware attack in July that's impacted at least 17,000 customers, according to new disclosures.
HomeTrust Mortgage, based in Houston, said at least 12,873 consumers in Texas and Montana had personally identifiable information compromised, it revealed in notices to state officials in the past week. In its entirety, the data breach affected around 17,000 borrowers and co-borrowers plus a few hundred of the firm's employees, William Knapp, HomeTrust president and co-founder, told National Mortgage News.
The company was alerted to suspicious activity within its network July 15 and hired security experts and a computer forensic investigator, the disclosures said. An investigation revealed in September that customers' names, addresses and Social Security numbers may have been exposed.
"We've handled this promptly, professionally, jumped right on it, and we're pretty sure it's a minor event and it mitigated any damages that could be out there," Knapp said Friday. "We think it was just a money grab and it didn't go well for the hackers."
The culprits, which Knapp declined to identify, did not lock the firm out of its servers, and HomeTrust hasn't received any additional cyber threats.
"It's not something that you ever want to happen but we feel like we're pretty blessed that it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been," said Knapp.
The Montana disclosure indicated four local residents were impacted, although Knapp said the borrowers had likely moved to the state since the company is not licensed in Montana and hasn't originated a loan there. A notice to the Office of the Texas Attorney General said 12,869 residents were affected.
HomeTrust said it hasn't seen evidence of misuse of consumer information but is offering between 12 to 24 months of complimentary services from IDX which includes credit monitoring and a $1 million insurance reimbursement policy.
The lender, which also does business as Home Mortgage of America which it merged with in 2012, produces year-over-year origination volume from a low of $600 million to a high of $1.3 billion depending on mortgage market swings, Knapp said. HomeTrust was founded in 1986 and originates approximately 90% of its mortgages in Texas, while also lending in Alabama, Florida and New Mexico.
The company offers adjustable rate mortgages, conventional, government-insured and jumbo loans and counts 179 employees on LinkedIn. The lender has no relation to North Carolina-based HomeTrust Bank.
The HomeTrust disclosure is a rare admission by a mortgage firm of the type of hack it suffered, while most companies don't disclose the type of cyber attack nor the culprit. Ransomware incidents can be especially
Industry firms ranging from lenders, servicers and vendors have disclosed in the past 12 months breaches impacting a combined millions of customers, with some facing
Editor's note: The story has been updated to reflect comments and new information on the number of those impacted provided by HomeTrust.
