Cyber attacks against UK property services businesses increased by 17% last year as criminals increasingly targeted the sensitive financial and personal information held by agents and property managers.
Analysis from Karis Insurance records 208 attacks during 2025, up from 178 a year earlier.
Estate agents and property managers are becoming increasingly attractive targets because of the volume of information collected from buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants during property transactions and tenancies.
That can include passports, driving licences, proof of address, bank details, mortgage information and tenancy records.
VALUABLE DATA
Karis warns that criminals can use stolen information for identity theft, ransomware attacks or to sell data to other criminals.
Property transactions also create a particular vulnerability to payment diversion fraud, where criminals attempt to intercept transactions and substitute legitimate bank details with their own.
The potential consequences extend beyond the individual customer, with a significant breach exposing agencies to disruption, financial losses and reputational damage.
Ravi Sejpal, Director of Insurance at Karis Insurance, says: “In many cases, property businesses hold just as much detail about their client base as a bank would.
“However there are very few businesses in the property sector who have bank-level data security arrangements.
“The sort of personal data that property agencies hold about their clients could be hugely valuable if it fell into the wrong hands. These figures show that hackers are increasingly realising that.”
GROWING RISK
Karis argues that the growing threat means property businesses need to take their exposure to cyber incidents more seriously, including considering specialist insurance against data breaches.
Sejpal adds: “The property industry has now reached a point where having specialist insurance for data breaches is critically important.
“Every financial services business and law firm involved in property long ago understood the risks posed by hackers, which can be business-critical for those affected. The property industry itself hasn’t quite moved at the same pace in getting on top of the risks, however.”
