Mr. Cooper, a major mortgage lender in the United States, suffered a serious cyber attack that forced it to take several of its systems and endpoints offline. As a result, customers were unable to pay their mortgages or loans.
An announcement published on Mr Cooper’s website said the company became aware of the attack on October 31 and took “immediate action” to secure customer data. That action included locking down a number of systems, which remain locked at the time of writing.
While the company hasn’t specifically identified it as a ransomware attack, companies that need to shut down certain systems usually address that specific threat. It did say it is “actively investigating” whether any data has been compromised.
No fines
Shortly afterwards the company announced BleepingComputer that it “began notifying customers about the incident,” indicating that data theft may have occurred. In any case, customers should be extra careful if they receive emails or text messages from someone claiming to be a Mr. employee. to be Cooper.
With services currently offline and people unable to meet their obligations, some fear they will be penalized for being late on payments.
“Rest assured, you will not incur any fees, penalties or negative credit reporting associated with late payments while we work to resolve this issue,” Mr. Cooper’s announcement said.
At the moment there doesn’t seem to be any other way to process the payments. “If you use ACH, your payment will be processed as soon as our systems are up and running and you will receive a notification,” the company concludes. “You do not have to do anything.”
Mr. Cooper, formerly known as Nationstar Mortgage LLC, is a mortgage lender with more than four million customers. It employs about 9,000 people and provides loans worth $937 billion.