Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Newsroom from a report by Property Industry Eye. Read the original article for full details.
Estate agents under attack as cyber incidents jump 17%
Cyber attacks and incidents affecting estate agents and other UK property businesses rose by 17% last year, according to Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) data analysed by Karis Insurance. There were 208 reported incidents in 2025, up from 178 a year earlier.
Why property businesses are targets
Criminals increasingly target the financial and personal data held by agencies. Agents routinely collect passports and driving licences for anti-money laundering and identity checks, while their files can also contain addresses, bank details, mortgage information and tenancy records. That combination makes property businesses an attractive target.
Stolen information can be used for identity theft or sold to others. Criminals can also use ransomware to block access to systems or data and demand payment.
The payment diversion risk
Property transactions present another potentially costly vulnerability. Criminals can use compromised emails or transaction information to carry out payment diversion fraud, typically replacing legitimate bank details with their own to redirect money.
A successful attack can affect more than an agency's customers. Businesses can face financial losses, disruption and reputational damage.
What the industry is being urged to do
Ravi Sejpal, director of insurance at Karis Insurance, said that in many cases property businesses hold just as much detail about their client base as a bank would, yet very few in the property sector have bank-level data security arrangements. He added that the personal data agencies hold could be hugely valuable if it fell into the wrong hands, and the figures show hackers are increasingly realising this.
Karis also points to the affluent and high-net-worth clients represented by some property businesses as another attraction for criminals. The volume of information moving through the sector is growing as more elements of property transactions and lettings take place digitally.
Karis argues that agencies need to assess how they protect customer information and draw up plans for responding when criminals compromise their systems. Sejpal said 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, but the property industry hasn't moved at the same pace in getting on top of the risks. He added that businesses should consider specialist insurance covering data breaches and cyber incidents.
What this means for lettings professionals
Letting agents and inventory clerks handle sensitive tenant information, including identity documents, tenancy records and bank details, and the sector's reliance on digital systems for transactions, customer verification and management keeps growing. That creates a growing volume of sensitive information for businesses to protect.
Source: Property Industry Eye