Data breach halts home closings in Northern New York.
According to messages sent to their customers, COTT was the victim of a data breach that occurred the day after Christmas. The breach forced them to shut down hundreds of municipalities across the country.
Consequently, Clinton County has been locked out of accessing data like property sales. Adam Crosley, the manager of Crown Home Mortgage explained how realty specifically is being impacted.
“For a mortgage, or really anyone who’s trying to buy real estate, they want to do a title search on the home to make sure there’s no leans, judgements, covenants, restrictions, boundary disputes; anything that’s going to hinder the owner’s interest in the property,” he explained.
“And without them being able to do a lien search on the property, somebody might be buying a home that has a lien on it.”
Local attorneys are also being affected. Unless a cash transaction is being made, attorneys have stopped closing loans.