Several major U.S. banks and mortgage lenders are reportedly working quickly to determine how much of their customers’ data was compromised in a recent cyberattack on a New York financial technology firm.
SitusAMC, which supplies technology to over a thousand commercial and real estate finance companies, confirmed on the weekend that it discovered a data breach on November 12.
The firm stated that unidentified hackers had stolen corporate data linked to its banking clients, including “accounting records and legal agreements.”
SitusAMC noted that the extent and details of the cyberattack “remain under investigation.” They emphasized that the incident is “now contained,” and their systems are up and running. The company clarified that no ransomware was involved, indicating that the hackers aimed to extract data rather than to destroy it.
Reports from Bloomberg and CNN, citing insiders, revealed that SitusAMC has sent data breach warnings to several financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley. Additionally, SitusAMC serves pension funds and state governments, according to its website.
It’s still uncertain how much data was accessed or how many U.S. banking customers may be impacted by the breach. While SitusAMC may not be a household name, it plays a critical role by providing tools and technologies that help banks and real estate firms comply with state and federal regulations. Acting as an intermediary, the company manages extensive amounts of non-public banking data on behalf of its clients.
As stated on its website, SitusAMC processes billions of loan-related documents each year.
When contacted by TechCrunch, Citi spokesperson Patricia Tuma refused to comment on the breach and wouldn’t disclose whether the bank had received any communications from the hackers, including potential ransom demands.
Representatives for JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley were also unavailable for comments on Monday. SitusAMC’s CEO, Michael Franco, did not respond to inquiries sent via email on the same day.
The FBI is currently looking into the incident at SitusAMC. A spokesperson for the bureau did not provide any comments outside of U.S. business hours.
