Breach of Information from Mortgage Companies May Affect Tens of Thousands

The data and analytics firm Ascension, a large player in the finance industry, has suffered from an enormous data breach that may affect tens of thousands of consumers.

This breach of information was discovered in mid-January. Ascension has reportedly learned that a whopping 24 million important documents, including financial and banking information, were exposed to identity thieves in the breach.

Ascension Data Breach

So what led to this major breach of information? It all reportedly comes down to a misconfigured server that exposed the private mortgage data of consumers from a number of banks and lenders.

Information exposed through this breach includes names, addresses, birth dates, and even social security numbers. Because of the data breach, experts say that this information may have been available to the public for weeks, without even a password to protect it.

Tech Crunch broke news of this data breach, affecting more than 24 million banking and financial documents. The documents are connected with tens of thousands of loans and mortgages from more than a decade.

“On January 15, this vendor learned of a server configuration error that may have led to exposure of some mortgage-related documents. The vendor immediately shut down the server in question, and we are working with third-party forensics experts to investigate the situation. We are also in regular contact with law enforcement investigators and technology partners as this investigation,” general counsel for Ascension’s parent company, Rocktop Partners, said in a statement.

Banks and lenders whose consumers may have been affected by this major breach of information include CitiFinancial, HSBC Life Insurance, Wells Fargo, and Capital One. It is also possible that more than just these banks were compromised—federal agencies, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development, used Ascension services, and may have had information exposed through this breach as well.

Banks affected in this data breach have been informed of the issue. Approximately 54,000 mortgage borrowers had their data exposed, according to Miami real estate news source The Real Deal, and some may yet remain unaware that the breach has occurred at all.

In general, banks and lenders make sure that the financial data of their clients is protected securely. But personal information from home mortgage documentation often does not even stay with the lender of the loan, and is instead sold to investors, which may then be sold again to other investors. Eventually, the data may end up far away from the bank or mortgage company that made the loan in the first place and can even be left unprotected.

According to The Washington Post, Ascension is “in regular contact with law-enforcement investigators,” and is actively “working with vendors” to inform affected borrowers of the breach of information.

Joining an Ascension Data Breach Lawsuit Investigation

If you are a customer of one of the affected banks or lenders (CitiFinancial, HSBC Life Insurance, Wells Fargo, Capital One, or others) and believe that your information may have been compromised in the Ascension breach of information, you may be able to join this mortgage data breach class action lawsuit investigation.

Join a Free Mortgage Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you are a customer of CitiFinancial, HSBC Life Insurance, Wells Fargo, Capital One, or otherwise believe that you were affected by the Ascension breach, you may be eligible to join this mortgage data breach class action lawsuit investigation.

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