Flagstar fires vendor after customer data breach
A close call for the mortgage customers of Flagstar Bank, as one of its vendors fell victim to hacking.
Accellion, a vendor that Flagstar uses for its file sharing platform, informed Flagstar on January 22, 2021, that the platform had a vulnerability that was exploited by an unauthorized party, said the bank in this statement.
After Accellion informed us of the incident, Flagstar permanently discontinued use of this file sharing platform, they said. Unfortunately, we have learned that the unauthorized party was able to access some of Flagstarâs information on the Accellion platform and that we are one of numerous Accellion clients who were impacted.Â
Luckily, Flagstar Bank says that operations were not impacted and the Accellion platform was “segmented” from other network elements such as core banking and mortgage systems.
Accellion's file-sharing program, File Transfer Appliance (FTA), is an enterprise product used to transfer large files. While now discontinued and supplanted by other software such as Kiteworks, a zero-day vulnerability in the legacy software was found in December and has since been exploited by attackers in the wild.Â
đ€Ł MEME of the day đ€Ł
Have a funny meme? Email your favorite meme here for a chance to be featured in our next Rise&Shred.
Will the real financial bubble please stand up?
Quick question: Is technology making real estate agents obsolete?
Short answer: No.Â
âWhile they are no longer needed to unlock the door, the value of an agent is the expertise and insight that they bring
 to the table,â writes Wayne Graham, the Head of Real Estate from Homie Arizona in this great, quick blog. âThey know what to look for in the house and look out for the buyer or sellerâs bottom line.â
As real estate and mortgages continue to click along at a fairly decent pace, some are calling us in a bubble. However, most experts decidedly say weâre not.
So, housing may be doing OK, but thatâs not the real bubble weâre in.
âTake the bubble that no one seems to ever worry about â the national debt. It sits today at $28 trillion and is growing by the minute,â writes Thomas Vartanian, in an opinion piece published in The Hill.
âOver the last quarter century, it has continuously been nurtured by Congresses and White Houses that seem to believe that there are no restraints on the countryâs borrowing and spending power,â the former bank regulator adds. âThat has necessitated an endless series of governmental actions that have distorted markets, which then, of course, requires further attention and adjustment as markets evolve, leading to even further market distortions.â
Considering the recent trillion-dollar stimulus, he may have a point.
đ„ Quicken, UWM, and Mullets đ„Â
With Josh Pitts & Jacob Gaffney
The youngest Americans were hit the hardest by COVID-19 (economically speaking)
The initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the U.S. economy was widespread and affected people across all age groups and all states while the initial mortality impact targeted mostly older people in just a few states according to independent research by the U.S. Census Bureau.
[Related: Late-Stage Pandemic Is Messing With Your Brain]
When it came to the rate of death, excess mortality increased with age and was largest among the oldest age group. Individuals ages 85 and older represent only 3% of the total U.S. population ages 25 years and older but accounted for 34% of the overall excess mortality in the country.
On the other hand, employment displacement decreased with age. It was largest among the younger age group (ages 25 to 44). These individuals makeup only 39% of the U.S. population ages 25 and older but accounted for about half of the people 25 and older who lost their jobs nationwide.
Spread the Rise&Shred â€ïž and share with a friend
