- AnnieMac says more than 170,000 people have had names and SSNs exposed
- New filing with the Maine Attorney General covers Summer 2023 hack
- The identity and motive of the attackers are unknown at this time
AnnieMac Home Mortgage has revealed suffering a data breach in which the sensitive data on hundreds of thousands of customers was exposed.
The mortgage company confirmed the information in a filing with the Maine Office of the Attorney General, saying it spotted “suspicious activity on certain systems” within its network on August 23, 2023.
Subsequent investigation determined that an unnamed attacker accessed the company’s IT infrastructure on August 21, and “viewed and/or copied certain files” from these systems.
No one claimed responsibility yet
These “certain files” held people’s full names and Social Security Numbers (SSN). A total of 171,074 individuals were affected by the incident.
This, arguably, isn’t that disruptive of a breach. Cybercriminals prefer databases with email addresses, postal addresses, and phone numbers, since they can use the information to impersonate other people, engage in spam and phishing, and more. There are not plenty of things they can do with just names and SSNs.
To tackle the incident, AnnieMac did what most victim organizations do these days – it employed a third-party forensics company, notified the police, mailed the affected people, and offered a year’s worth of identity theft protection and credit monitoring, via CyEx.
It also apologized, saying the “confidentiality, privacy, and security of personal information within our care are among AnnieMac’s highest priorities.”
We don’t know who stole the files. So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the files are yet to pop up anywhere on the dark web.
AnnieMac Home Mortgage is a full-service mortgage lender that provides a wide range of home financing solutions, such as conventional loans, FHA loans, VA loans, USDA loans, and jumbo loans. With hundreds of thousands of customers, the company generates an estimated annual revenue of approximately $240 million.
Via The Register