Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Newsroom from a report by The Negotiator. Read the original article for full details.

Cyber Attacks on UK Property Businesses Rise 17% as Agents Warned They Are Hacker Targets

Estate agents and surveyors are becoming increasingly attractive targets for hackers, according to property insurance specialist Karis Insurance. The insurer says agents and surveyors are increasingly in criminals' sights because they collect more personal data than ever before, and some client lists contain a high proportion of affluent and high net worth individuals.

Karis Insurance's figures show that cyber attacks against British property services businesses rose 17% in the past year, climbing to 208 in the year ending 31st December 2025, up from 178 the previous year.

Why agents hold valuable data

The data held by agents includes passports and driving licences collected for AML and KYC checks, as well as proof of address, bank details, mortgage information and tenancy records. For letting agents and inventory clerks, this means the tenancy records and identity documents handled as part of routine referencing and check-ins are exactly the kind of information criminals value.

This data is valuable to criminals in several ways. An attack can lock a business out of its own system until a ransom is paid. Attacks can also involve identity theft, or the sale of details such as bank information on the dark web.

Payment diversion fraud risk

Information relating to live transactions also carries a risk. It can enable payment diversion fraud, where hackers substitute their own bank details for the seller's during a purchase — a threat relevant to any agent handling transaction communications.

Ravi Sejpal, Director of Insurance at Karis Insurance, said: "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."

He added: "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."