Florida Agency Network Launches Collaboration Portal

January 18, 2018

The Florida Agency Network announced the completion of its Closing Manager collaboration portal with the help of its technology partner Premier Data Services. The portal bridges wire fraud security best practices with the benefits of a consumer-friendly closing experience, Florida Agency Network said in a release. Consumers, real-estate agents and other parties to the transaction can minimize their email exposure when utilizing the Closing Manager.

“We surveyed and gathered data on Florida Agency Network’s clients to see if portal sentiment in the real-estate community had shifted,” said Jay Roberts, chief technology officer for Premier Data Services. “With the recent spike in wire fraud activity, we received overwhelming support from both directing and non-directing agents. In fact, the percentage of those in favor continually increased each quarter over the past year. The Closing Manager minimizes the cyber footprint of a transaction and extends industry best practices through to the consumers at a time when it is needed most.”

With the rampant escalation in business email compromise (BEC), the security features associated with the Closing Manager provide clients with a safe-haven to conduct business and protect all components of the transaction. These features include:

  • Secured Chat allows parties to discuss sensitive, transaction-specific items without the exposure of traditional email. 
  • Multifactor Authentication strengthens all parties’ control of information. This is currently a standard in the state of New York and its adoption is anticipated industry-wide.
  • Infosheets allow buyers and sellers to submit information requested by title insurance companies without the need for traditional email.
  • Two-way Document Sharing provides all parties associated to the transaction the ability to upload or receive documents without email delivery.

“With cyber fraud rampant in the title insurance industry over the past few years, the only responsible reaction appears to be securing transactions at the individual level,” said Mike LaRosa, chief operating officer for Florida Agency Network. “Compromised email attacks and social engineering have become highly sophisticated, and we in the industry have too much to risk. We deal with non-public personal information (NPI) and significant amounts of escrowed funds on a daily basis. The move to individually-secured, portal-based communications seems like the most logical step in countering the current barrage of daily cyber-attack attempts.”


Contact ALTA at 202-296-3671 or communications@alta.org.