PALM BEACH – Earlier this week, it was reported that one of the country’s largest titles companies, First American Financial Corp (NYSE: FAF), unknowingly exposed up to 885 million files related to real estate title insurance records dating from 2003 to 2019.
Anyone with a URL for a valid document could view other documents by modifying a single digit in the URL.
The records exposed by the website included critical financial information and documents such as:
- Social Security numbers
- Mortgage and tax records
- Bank account numbers and statements
- Wire transaction receipts
- Driver’s license images
The information had been available online since at least March 2017 and contained documents security experts say went back to 2003.
First American Financial Corp. has fixed a weakness in its site that appears to have exposed more than 885 million records related to mortgage deals going back to 2003 https://t.co/joo3sdVDZF Data exposed: SSNs, bank acct info, DL scans, mortgage/tax records, wire details pic.twitter.com/nEKb51JjLj
— briankrebs (@briankrebs) May 24, 2019
According to a First American Financial Corp. spokesperson the company is currently evaluating what effect, if any, this had on the security of customer information and will have no further comment until their internal review is completed. FAF was founded in 1889, over 130 years ago.
About The Author: John Colascione is Chief Executive of Internet Marketing Services Inc. He specializes in Website Monetization, authored a ‘how to’ book called ‘‘Mastering Your Website’, and is a key player in several Internet related businesses through his search engine strategy brand Searchen Networks®
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