A Kelowna real estate group hit by hackers is dealing with the fallout of some confidential information being siphoned and leaked onto the internet.
RE/MAX Kelowna has confirmed that in early February, its servers were breached by a malicious group, during a software update.
Although the real estate group found out about the breach and shut it down within “minutes,” RE/MAX Kelowna owner Jerry Redman did confirm some data was stolen.
However, he said less than one per cent of the data on the server was taken – none of which was from clients.
“There is no client data on that server … anybody who has information on that server has been informed of it, as they are all my employees, or work for us,” said Redman.
At the time, the group believed no data had been leaked, until they were notified in the days following.
On Feb. 4, the information was published online by a well-known ransomware group, viewable by anyone with the link. The group has been known in the past to steal data, and hold it for ransom, threatening to leak it online unless payment is received.
Redman said RE/MAX Kelowna was not held at ransom because the breach was stopped.
However, some documents managed to leak online. A link shows a folder containing 10,612 documents of varying importance; from quarterly statements, to buyer/seller records, as well as internal bank account information.
According to the website, thousands have viewed the link to date. As of Feb. 10, the link to the online folder remains live.
Redman’s team is now focused on investigating the matter with the support of a cyber-security company, and hope to know more within the coming weeks. He said security is of the utmost importance.
Emsisoft anti-malware threat researcher Brett Callow, who helped to expose the breach, said businesses can significantly reduce risks to their business by adhering to security best practices.
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