US retail mortgage lender loanDepot struggles with cyberattack ABC News

pThe US retail mortgage lender loanDepot says its struggling with a cyberattack that has impacted loan processing and phone serviceppBOSTON The US retail mortgage lender loanDepot is struggling to recover from a cyberattack that impacted its loan processing and phone serviceppIn a filing on Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission the company said data was encrypted by the unauthorized third party who broke into company systems It said certain unspecified systems were shut down to contain the incidentppThe Irvine California company said it had contacted law enforcement and was still assessing how the attack might affect its bottom lineppWe are working quickly to understand the extent of the incident and taking steps to minimize its impact the company saidppThe incident bore all the hallmarks of a ransomware attack but company spokesman Jonathan Fine would neither confirm or deny that possibility The attack apparently began over the weekendppLoanDepot did not say whether any corporate or customer data was stolen during the breakin or when it was discovered Ransomware criminals typically steal data before activating malware that scrambles data with encryption That way the criminals can extort the target even if it is able to quickly restore its networks from backups ppLoanDepot told customers on its website that recurring automatic payments were being processed and that they could make payments by phoneppFounded in 2010 loanDepot calls itself the nations fifth largest retail mortgage lender with more than 140 billion in outstanding loans and 6000 employees servicing more than 27000 customers each monthpp247 coverage of breaking news and live eventsp