Breach Brief – First American

Published On May 30, 2019 | By Tom Huskerson | Breach Briefs

No matter how many times you hear about these monstrously gigantic data breaches it seems there is alway one company that just does not get it. This time it is mortgage provider First American.

According to Krebs on Security, real estate and title insurance company First American left exposed nearly 900 million sensitive customer financial records, dating back to 2003, on its website for anyone to access.

Krebs reported the unprotected records included customer Social Security numbers, driver’s license images, bank account numbers and statements, mortgage and tax documents, and wire transaction receipts. So what more could an identity thief ask for?

Krebs notified First American of the situation and the website was quickly taken down. There is no evidence that the information found its way into the wrong hands. But that is stil no guarantee it didn’t.

In a statement First American said; “First American has learned of a design defect in an application that made possible unauthorized access to customer data. The company took immediate action to address the situation and shut down external access to the application. We are currently evaluating what effect, if any, this had on the security of customer information. We will have no further comment until our internal review is completed.”

For more information go to First American’s Incident Update webpage.

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About The Author

Tom Huskerson Bio Born in Richmond Virginia Tom Huskerson is a military veteran who settled in California after his discharge. Tom attended Santa Barbara City College where he began his writing career as a campus reporter. He worked as an intern news reporter for the Santa Barbara News-Press writing feature stories before moving on to San Francisco. At San Francisco State University Tom studied broadcast communications and began to focus on the Internet. He completed his graduate thesis on Internet advertising. Tom was the first student to ever focus on the Internet as a graduate student at San Francisco State University. After graduation he went to work for Zona Research in California’s Silicone Valley. As a research associate Tom supported senior analyst writing on the latest developments in the Internet industry. During the dot com boom Tom worked for several web businesses as a market researcher and analyst. As a writer and researcher Tom has authored various technical works including a training program for Charles Schwab security. Other projects included professional presentations on workplace violence and hiring security contractors. Tom has also written both fiction and non-fiction works and blogging for a travel website. He has published two books of short stories and completed two novels. Tom is the owner of Scribe of Life Literature and EbonyCandle.com. Tom is not the chief editor for the OnTechStreet. com. A news and information blog that focuses on tech news for African-Americans. The blog is the result of his desire to inform the African American community of the dangers and benefits of the cyber age. In his blog Tom reports on information security, new and analysis, scams and hoaxes, legal happenings and various topics that arise from the age of information. Tom believes that technology is a necessary tool for black people and they should know what is happening. Tom writes believing that techno speak is for the professional and that valuable information can be communicated using plain language. As a result he has embraced the motto, Less Tech, More Knowledge.

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