If you are in the property management business you should be alarmed. ANOTHER major security breach, in fact the largest in the history of the Internet – only 1.2 BILLION (yes, with a ‘B’) ID’s were stolen by a ‘Russian gang’. Not to mention, also 500 million email addresses, possibly yours. By the way, the name of the gang is ‘CyberVor’. ‘Vor’ in Russian means ‘thief’, so with a name like ‘CyberThief’ they are not exactly playing coy. In fact, I get dibs on that name if I ever start another band, I love that name.

 

But this is no laughing matter, fellow property managers. This is serious business. You are responsible for your owners and tenants information. Not just their accounting, but their passwords, their Social Security numbers / Federal Tax ID’s, and their bank account numbers. And apparently, it’s not really that difficult for criminals to get them. This was a ‘gang’ no bigger than the group of friends you hang out with on Friday night. I’m not saying you are in a gang – I’m betting you don’t sit around swigging vodka and hacking into servers when you get together.

 

But think about it – think about how easy it is to sign up with some software company in the ‘cloud’, pay them an inflated amount per month, then sit back until your server gets hacked and you are out of business. If the server gets hacked, not only could you lose the credentials for your owners and your tenants, it may need to shut down to stop the bleeding. Where does that leave you and your business? Without data, without customers, without a way to post rent, unable to find out who owes you money, and without any alternative. Here in Austin we call that ‘up a creek without a paddle’, or more often SOL (can’t spell that out…the FTC or NSA is probably reading this…).

 

Just sayin’, think about it, be careful, and change your passwords often. I sincerely hope none of us were affected. I’d hate to think that you lost your business and ended up sitting around swigging vodka all day…