Over a week ago, Today’s Conveyancer published the first of three pieces (so far) covering the breaking news surrounding the CTS cyber incident and the subsequent updates as they work to restore their systems.
On Wednesday 22nd November, Today’s Conveyancer was made aware by its readers of a cyber incident impacting close to 80 firms in a variety of ways – from access to emails through to case management system issues resulting in being unable to exchange or complete on transactions.
It was first brought to Today’s Conveyancer by home movers who flagged that their exchanges and completions had been postponed.
On Friday 24 November CTS published a statement on their website, however, that statement provided no further indication of timescales on the full restoration of services, saying:
“We are working closely with a leading global cyber forensics firm to help us with an urgent investigation into the incident and to assist us in service restoration.
We continue to work around the clock with the assistance of third-party experts. Whilst we are confident that we will be able to restore services, we are unable to give a precise timeline for full restoration. We will continue to communicate directly with those of our clients which are impacted by the service outage, providing regular updates on the status of our work to restore services and our investigations into the incident.”
On 30th November, we reported how conveyancers were “doing their best” to get people moved as the cyber incident continued to be causing issues and had not yet been resolved. CTS did say that they were working “around the clock with the assistance of third-party experts (to) restore services.”
It became apparent that that firms were affected in different ways depending on their use of the cloud technologies. Today’s Conveyancer spoke to a number of firms that were impacted and how this was playing out with case progression and exchanges/completions.
One firm that we spoke to, who wished to remain anonymous, explained they had been working “outside the box” to ensure that completions could happen with manual workarounds, albeit they explained, it was taking “10 times longer.”
They admitted they had not been able to access their case management system since the attack and had been “piecing files together” as they went along; with no access to matters they were reliant on sent and deleted emails to access search reports, enquiries and other information. In time, once access has been restored, there is also a piece of work to be done to re-input all this information back on to the case management system once it’s back up and running, they said.
Whilst firms confirmed that CTS had remained in contact with them, there had been no definitive timescales provided on a restoration of services. One concern that arose during this time was the issue of lender panels restricting or suspending access to services for affected firms. It came to light that firms had been contacted to ask if they were affected with the risk their panel membership may be suspended.
Today’s Conveyancer approached LMS and Lender Exchange for comment:
“LMS believes it is imperative that we continue to do everything that we can to support the progression of transactions to keep customer and client detriment to the absolute minimum. There is no direct impact on LMS systems and processes therefore we are providing supporting resources wherever we can to help progress matters. LMS will continue to provide all Panel Link law firms with secure access to lender information via our Conveyancer Zone Portal.”
On Friday 1st December, Today’s Conveyancer published an update that had been added to the CTS website, providing additional information and their response to the on-going cyber incident and the restoration of services.
CTS stated that they had implement a “four-phase” response, and whilst they were now in the 4th and final stage of the restoration of their services, they did state that it may take more time to resolve.
The Managed Service Provider (MSP) has said it had implemented a “four-phase” response and was now in the 4th and final stage of restoration of services, but warned it may yet take some time to resolve. They stated that they remain in contact with their clients and they are keeping them informed as they progress through the final phase.
Many home movers have commented on Today’s Conveyancer, and still are commenting, expressing their frustration at a lack of communication from firms and CTS themselves. CTS have reminded (via a statement on their website) that home movers should be contacting their conveyancing firm direct if there are issues.
11 Responses
So the affected firms are still not back on track. One firm who shall remain nameless is proving infuriating. Inaccurate updates, lack of communication, inconsistent ways to proceed and only willing to exchange 1 working day before completion. At Christmas, how on earth is that good for any clients or other Conveyancers who are trying to do a good honest job? I’m at my wits end and on the verge of saying to these firms if you are uncapable or unwilling, send the case to another firm who can.
I was due to remortgage which did not complete – I am now being charged 8.74%. Can my completion be backdated or will the law firm reimburse me?
Not very helpful
I am genuinely getting fed up with this and especially the firms affected. The Management of the firms affected seem to have gone into hiding. No statements, no public show of support for everyone affected, no policy, nothing. Their poor staff clearly don’t know what to say or do. It’s a disgrace and the lack of support from the SRA is appalling. The SRA say that they expect all the firms involved to update all in the chain. That has NOT happened. My clients Christmas’ are being ruined; removals are hard to get, next week is effectively the last week for completions, so much needs organising and these firms refuse to exchange until 1 working day before completion. This is a stain on the legal industry, people have lost trust and the Management involved making these decisions have a lot to answer for.
I’m waiting to exchange contracts too.
I assume from the above my buyer’s solicitor’s IT systems is still down. My solicitor refuses to chase this up as she has been told we will be informed when it is working again. I’m really stressed about this.
We are having the same problem. A lack of information. I have asked for plan B of verification of a document and exchange and the team avoid my questions. We have escalated but does not seem to make any difference and no clear information when will be operational.
In the same boat here. Not even a murmur of a plan B being in place – justwaiting. You’d think with the sensitivity of the subject that firms would have a back-up or alternative. Should this system reinstatement fail what happens then?
No updates now at all from the affected companies. I’ve got clients trying to complete next week but the firm involved refuses to exchange until one working day before. Imagine that for clients at Christmas, planning for moving and Christmas. It’s a disgrace.
Just spoken to Taylor Rose solicitors everything should be up and running.
@Jay I am aware of that too however they were missing their financial ledgers this morning. I got the distinct impression when I called earlier that the fee earners are incredibly stressed, under pressure and backlogged so immediate answers to immediate problems might not be forthcoming.
The communication from our conveyancing firm has been non existant since CTS systems went down. It certainly does not inspire any sort of confidence and this is a lesson in how not to conduct public relations. There has been no forthcoming information, and I hope the conveyancing firm we have used reflect on the way they have treated their clients on the back of this.