Topeka-based
IT and web services provider Premier One is part of a team of businesses
assisting title insurance agents in the wake of a massive ransomware attack.
The attack has rendered inaccessible the systems of a large cloud service
provider that serves a significant number of title agencies, which could
disrupt operations for those agencies.
According
to an article on the American Land Title Association’s website, Cloudstar, one
of the title industry’s largest cloud-hosting providers with over 42,000 users, had its systems rendered inaccessible
by a sophisticated ransomware attack this weekend. The attack has
denied title agencies using Cloudstar the ability to access cloud-based data.
That data could be necessary to process title insurance orders and even
real estate closings. At the time of this writing, it was reported that
Cloudstar was still unable to access its systems.
Premier
One joins other technology-focused firms from title industry, including SofPro,
RamQuest and Qualia, offering assistance to title agencies unable to process
insurance orders because of the attack.
According
to Shawn Fox, director of sales and marketing for Premier One, “Unfortunately, these companies do not
have any of their data since the backups were affected in this attack as well,” Fox
said. “We are setting them up with a blank database of the production software
to get them operational for (Monday). As of right now, if a title company has
not made any plans and are just hoping that Cloudstar comes back, they will not
be able to process any orders. A lot of the customers also had their emails
hosted with Cloudstar so they are also having a hard time with communication.”
(Source: American Land Title Association).
Kevin
Nincehelser, Chief Operating Officer for Premier One, said they are telling
title companies affected by the attack to verify their security status and
ensure there is not an active threat to IT assets. “Title companies should
restore their ability to process new orders. This can be accomplished by
obtaining a new instance of their production software on-premises or hosted
with an available vendor such as Premier One, OP2, SoftPro, or Qualia.
Companies also must rebuild production processes and workflows. For many
agents, the extensive customization to their production software will be lost.
It’s best to begin rebuilding as soon as possible.”
No
timeline has been reported regarding when Cloudstar may again have access to
its systems.
About
Premier One
Topeka, Kansas-based Premier One is an IT
consulting and cloud services provider serving small to mid-sized companies in
the title insurance, banking, and professional services industries. Premier One
has been serving clients throughout the country since 1991.