First American Financial suffered a cyber attack on Thursday morning, forcing the title company to shut down its website and some of its systems.
The company confirmed the attack in a website update for customers. It’s unclear what systems the firm has shut down and the company did not respond to a request for comment.
First American provides settlement services and title insurance for homebuyers, sellers, brokers, mortgage lenders and investors — essentially all the parties in a real estate transaction. The firm also handles foreclosure proceedings.
Though the firm is headquartered in Santa Ana, it works to close deals across the country.
Real estate players took to X, formerly Twitter, to complain about the shutdown on Thursday morning, with one user, who did not respond to a request for comment, saying closings for two deals were expected to be delayed until Dec. 26.
retwit alert:
first american title co got hacked
down nationwide
what timing lol
— JF (@jmf_5) December 21, 2023
“My bet, deals won’t be closing until after Xmas,” another user posted on X on Thursday. “If you have an escrow set to close and title is underwritten by [First American] you will not be closing today.”
First American Title has been taken down by some type of cyber security issue.
If you have an escrow set to close and title is underwritten by FA you will not be closing today….
My bet, deals won’t be closing until after Xmas…
(Ask me how I know 🫣)
— SFR Investor (@SFR_Investor) December 21, 2023
The cyber attack marks the third to hit the title industry over the last two months. Fidelity National and Mr. Cooper both fell victim to cyber security incidents and are now facing separate class action lawsuits over the attacks. In the case of Mr. Cooper, data from almost 15 million current and former clients was exposed.
It’s also not the first cyber attack to hit First American.
Last month, First American was ordered by the New York Department of Financial Services to pay $1 million to settle cybersecurity violations in New York, stemming from a 2019 breach.