Buying and selling property is stressful enough without having the threat of cybercrime looming over the transaction.
So much of our lives are online now, and there's no way to protect yourself from every instance cybercrime. Since few if any Realtors would work without a computer or smartphone, industry professionals are addressing the threat head-on to protect their clients.
“Cybercrime is a global problem, one that's becoming more prevalent and more urgent," said Jessica Edgerton, associate counsel with the National Association of Realtors. Smaller and midsized real estate companies—where transactions involve multiple players and large sums of money—are an ideal target for criminals, Ms. Edgerton said.
Unfortunately, hackers can gain access to email accounts fairly easily. Hacking can come in the form of an infected attachment or link that appears to come from a benign sender. “Clicking is something that’s deadly dangerous,” says Ms. Edgerton, whose motto is “Think before you click.” Opening a bad link or attachment can trigger a key logger, which is malware that reads keystrokes to capture your passwords. It can also open ransomware that will encrypt everything on your system it can reach, including connected drives and networks.
So how can you help make yourself more secure? Some easy solutions include keeping your operating systems up to date and checking your social ..
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