You and the Deloitte Hack
Seems that everyone was aware of the Equifax hack when it happened. Among the some 145 million people affected by that hack, the chances were good that either you or someone you know was impacted.
The recent announced hack of Deloitte Touch Tohmatsu, Ltd. by the company itself on September 25 of this year did not create comparable individual and media awareness and/or attention. Apparently, the onslaught of multiple natural disasters and concerns about nuclear war took center stage at the time.
Whatever took our attention, ignore the Deloitte hack at your own risk. Deloitte is one of the “Big Four” accounting firms in the world with the largest professional services network in the world based upon revenue (in FY, 2017 Deloitte earned a record $38.83B) and upon the number of professionals it employs (+263,900 globally). If it can happen to Deloitte, it can happen to you.
First reported by Great Britain’s The Guardian, Deloitte initially stated, “…only a few clients were impacted…” by hacked confidential emails, entire internal email databases and all administrative accounts. Investigators, however, have since determined that hackers have had “potential access” to usernames, passwords, IP addresses, architectural diagrams for businesses, health information and attachments with sensitive security and design details since October 2016 for the following list (considered to be “far from exhaustive” by Guardian journalists) of government entities and businesses…
US Department of State
US Department of Energy
US Department of Homeland Security
US Department of Defense
US National Institutes of Health
US Postal Service
Fannie Mae
Freddie Mac
4 global banks
3 airlines
Multinational auto manufacturers, energy companies and pharmaceutical companies
+ 30 blue chip Fortune 500 businesses
FIFA
As startling as this hack is, cyber security experts call it “astonishing” that Deloitte did not have “cyber security best practices” installed throughout its own systems. At the time of the hack, again reported by The Guardian, a collection of Deloitte’s corporate UPN passwords, usernames and operational details were installed within public facing, a Deloitte employee uploaded corporate proxy login credentials to public Google+ pages, the software was outdated, remote desktop access was enabled, there was no firewall and there was no two-factor authentication in place.
Not only does Deloitte bill itself as one of the top IT security consultancies in the industry, Gartne, a highly regarded analyst firm, has named Deloitte as the world’s best security consultancy for the fifth year in a row as of the fall of 2017.
What does the Deloitte hack have to do with you? You cannot ignore the fact that every second of the day, 51 emails are compromised by cyber crimes. Again, if Deloitte (and Equifax and Target and the list goes on and one) can be hacked, so can you.
It is more than obvious that you as a real estate agent who has access to your clients’ financial records, confidential client information, legal documents, internal communications, employer/employee information, etc. must arm yourself with impenetrable email and encryption protection.
Do what Deloitte didn’t do and install updated software, a firewall, two-factor authentication, etc. and keep your usernames, passwords, login credentials, etc, current and safe.
Also know there are security solutions out there that encrypt, track and postmark all electronic communications. Do your research. Look for military grade encryption, court validated tracking, easy-to-use interface, end-to-end secure email, built-in self destruct features, impenetrable email protection, legal proof of sending and receiving documents.
Do what Deloitte didn’t do and protect yourself and your clients.
