Owners and Agents help protect your residents and share this information on property. Recently, a massive data breach may have compromised more than two billion personal records. The breach involves National Public Data, a background check company.
According to the company, leaks in December 2023, April 2024, and through the Summer compromised customer data. The leaked information included names, email addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and mailing addresses.
The data leaks remain under investigation. While the investigation continues, it is important to share steps to help protect your residents.
Encourage residents on your property to check and see if any of their personal information was compromised in the leaks at National Public Data. Two online security companies offer free services to check if your Social Security number was part of the cyber leak.
You can verify with National Public Data, operated by Atlas Privacy, here, and with the second company, Cybersecurity Pentester, here.
Next Steps
Additionally, if you or your residents are included in the breach there are several steps to take. First, anyone impacted in the breach should freeze their credit. Submit requests to each of the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
A freeze helps block hackers from access to your records. However, you will also have to unfreeze your credit if you want to apply for a new credit card or loan for a car or home.
Anyone impacted in the data breach or leak should change all passwords immediately. Experts say this is especially true if you use the same passwords for multiple websites. Also, consider using multifactor authentication and do not use public wi-fi.
Cyber Security on Property
These recent data breaches highlight the urgent need for cyber security to remain a top priority for multifamily properties. Property owners and managers must maintain detailed records, often containing significant amounts of Personally Identifiable Information (PII), which unfortunately makes many affordable housing providers prime targets for cyberattacks.
Navigate’s Director of Information Technology recently shared valuable insights on how to safeguard property information. Please take a moment to review these suggestions to ensure you’re doing everything possible to protect your residents and secure your property’s data.
