$2.9B+ in FBI IC3 BEC losses in 2023 — real estate is the #2 targeted sector. The September 2024 NAR data breach exposed sensitive data on millions of agents and consumers. Texas is the #1 US residential real estate market by transaction volume — which means the highest dollar-value targets for wire fraud, email account takeover, and MLS credential theft. The attacker's playbook: compromise an agent's inbox, monitor closings, send a spoofed wire instruction the morning of closing. CoreRecon delivers BEC defense, 30-min SOC response, and wire fraud workflow lockdown at $89–$129/endpoint — built for brokerages, not enterprise banks.
Texas real estate brokerages sit at a unique threat intersection: high-value wire transactions, distributed 1099 agents on personal devices, MLS platforms with shared credential pools, and third-party title and mortgage vendors all touching the same closing file. Every threat below has hit Texas brokerages in the last 24 months.
Texas real estate brokerages face five overlapping compliance obligations — most triggered by the same event: a cybersecurity incident that exposes client data or enables wire fraud. The sponsoring broker's TREC license is the liability anchor for all of them.
| Framework | What It Requires | Consequence of Non-Compliance | CoreRecon Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| TREC Fiduciary Duty & Record Retention (TX Occ. Code §1101) | Sponsoring brokers owe fiduciary duties to clients including duty to protect client funds and information. TREC Rule 535.2 requires brokers to maintain transaction records for 4 years — including all electronic communications related to a transaction. A cybersecurity incident that destroys or exposes transaction records triggers TREC complaint exposure for the sponsoring broker. | TREC complaint, license suspension, or revocation. Brokers can be held personally liable for wire fraud losses enabled by inadequate security under fiduciary duty doctrine. Per-transaction fines. | Fortress Immutable encrypted backup of transaction communications and records, access audit logging, TREC-compliant 4-year retention documentation |
| RESPA (12 U.S.C. § 2601) — Anti-Kickback & Settlement Service Disclosure | Brokerages that refer clients to affiliated title, mortgage, or escrow services must maintain accurate RESPA disclosure records. CFPB examinations for larger brokerages include review of data security practices for consumer NPI held in transaction management systems. | CFPB enforcement: civil money penalties, restitution. HUD/DOJ referrals for willful violations. Wire fraud facilitated by inadequate disclosure or data security creates compound liability. | Fortress Consumer NPI access controls, CFPB examination documentation, transaction data segmentation |
| GLBA Safeguards Rule (FTC, 16 CFR Part 314) | Brokerages that operate as mortgage brokers or maintain consumer financial data under a mortgage-adjacent relationship are financial institutions under GLBA. FTC Safeguards Rule (2023) requires written ISP, risk assessment, MFA on customer data systems, encryption, and incident response plan. | FTC enforcement: civil penalties up to $50,000/day. Class action exposure for consumer data breaches. TX AG enforcement under TDPSA / state consumer protection law. | Command Full Safeguards Rule control set: written ISP, risk assessment, MFA enforcement, encryption, IR plan, annual compliance report |
| TX Identity Theft Enforcement & Protection Act (TX Bus. & Com. Code Ch. 521) | Requires Texas businesses that maintain sensitive personal information — including SSNs, financial account numbers, and government ID numbers — to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures. Requires notification to affected individuals and the TX AG within 60 days of discovering a breach of covered data. | TX AG enforcement: civil penalties up to $50,000 per violation. Private right of action for affected individuals. TX AG has actively pursued enforcement against businesses with inadequate security practices. | Fortress Sensitive data access controls, breach detection, TX AG 60-day notification workflow pre-built, incident documentation package |
| TX Data Privacy & Security Act (TDPSA — HB 4, eff. July 1, 2024) | Applies to brokerages that process personal data of 100,000+ Texas consumers/year OR derive 25%+ of revenue from selling personal data and process 25,000+ consumers. Requires data protection assessments, privacy notices, consumer rights compliance (access, deletion, opt-out), and contracts with data processors. Larger franchises and multi-brand brokerages likely covered. | TX AG enforcement only (no private right of action). Civil penalties for willful violations. 30-day cure period before formal action. Data processing agreements with vendors are a required element. | Command TDPSA readiness assessment, data processing agreement review, privacy notice alignment, consumer rights workflow guidance. Take TDPSA quiz → |
The scenarios below are anonymized composites drawn from actual incidents in CoreRecon's Texas Breach Tracker and FBI IC3 complaint data. Two are direct Texas brokerage incidents; one is a national reference case with public documentation.
A DFW brokerage with 45 agents enrolled in CoreRecon Fortress tier. SOC detected anomalous inbox rule creation on a senior agent's M365 account at 2:14 AM — a forward-all rule sending copies of every email to an external Gmail address, consistent with attacker persistence setup. Analyst isolated the account and alerted the brokerage within 22 minutes. Forensic review found the attacker had been monitoring the account for 11 days and had identified three upcoming closings totaling $1.4M in wire value. No wire fraud attempt was ever sent. The account was secured, the attacker's access revoked, and the three closings completed on schedule. Source: CoreRecon SOC incident record — anonymized per client request.
An Austin brokerage's lookalike domain monitoring (Fortress tier) flagged a domain registered 8 days prior — one character difference from the brokerage's legitimate domain. The registered domain had no web presence but had sent two emails: one to the buyer of a pending $520K residential transaction impersonating the listing agent, and one to the buyer's lender. CoreRecon alerted the brokerage within 4 hours of the flagged send. The brokerage contacted the buyer directly, confirmed the fraudulent instructions, and initiated domain abuse reporting. Recovery: $520K — wire was never executed. The attack was 36 hours from detonation at the time of detection. Source: CoreRecon Breach Tracker — anonymized per client request.
Between 2021 and 2024, FBI IC3 documented a recurring pattern of MLS credential theft affecting Texas residential brokerages. Attackers obtained credentials from dark web data dumps (prior breaches of unrelated services where agents reused passwords), then authenticated to MLS platforms to harvest active listing data, agent-client relationships, and upcoming closing timelines. This intelligence was used to build targeted wire fraud lures. Texas brokerages affected included agents in NTREIS, HAR, and ACTRIS service areas. In no documented case did the affected brokerage have MFA enforced on MLS access. Source: FBI IC3 2023 Internet Crime Report; CoreRecon Breach Tracker database.
10-endpoint minimum. Month-to-month. Solo and small brokerages (10–25 endpoints) start with Sentinel. Mid-size brokerages (25–100 agents + back office) land in Fortress. Franchises, multi-brand operators, and brokerages with mortgage or title subsidiaries use Command.
Wire fraud response SLA applies to Command tier. The 30-minute clock starts when our SOC detects anomalous account activity — inbox rule creation, forwarding rule addition, credential stuffing, or anomalous authentication location — not when you call us after a wire has already gone out. Detection at the inbox compromise stage is the only intervention point that matters. After the wire executes, the window narrows to 72 hours and recovery rates drop below 15%.
We assess your email security posture, DMARC/DKIM configuration, MFA enforcement on MLS and transaction platforms, lookalike domain exposure, and TREC record retention gap. 14-day delivery. No commitment required.
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Yes. CoreRecon monitors identity-based threats and credential anomalies across the platforms your agents use — including MLS access portals (NTREIS, HAR, SABOR, ACTRIS, and others), transaction management systems (Dotloop, SkySlope, Broker Sumo), and CRM platforms. We don't require a direct integration with the MLS itself; we monitor the devices and identities your agents use to access it. If a credential is compromised or a device is used from an anomalous location, our SOC detects it before the attacker can pivot to your transaction data.
Command tier carries a 30-minute SLA from detection to analyst action. The key is where the clock starts: our SOC detects the inbox compromise — inbox rule creation, forwarding rule, credential anomaly — not the wire itself. A 30-minute SLA at the inbox-compromise stage means we can isolate the account, alert your transaction coordinator, and initiate buyer communications before the fraudulent wire instruction is ever sent. After the wire executes, the FBI IC3 FFKC gives you a 72-hour recovery window with under 15% recovery rates at that point. Stopping it before the wire is the only intervention that works.
Yes. CoreRecon deploys email security, DMARC enforcement, and BEC detection across both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace environments. Mixed environments — where some agents use M365 and others use Gmail — are fully supported. Most Texas brokerages run one or the other; some multi-brand franchises run both. Our SOC has coverage patterns for both platforms and their common MLS and transaction platform integrations.
1099 agents on their own devices are the largest security gap in most Texas brokerages. Under TREC fiduciary rules, a sponsoring broker retains liability for transactions conducted under their license — including wire fraud losses that originate from a 1099 agent's compromised email or personal device. CoreRecon Fortress and Command tiers include agent mobile device protection (lightweight MDM enrollment for BYOD), security awareness training with per-agent attestation records, and MFA enforcement on all platforms agents access with their brokerage credentials. The 1099 status shifts the employment relationship — not the broker's liability exposure.
No. CoreRecon runs as a background monitoring layer — it doesn't intercept, delay, or modify your email or transaction workflows. The only time you'll notice it is when our SOC flags an anomaly: a suspicious login from an unexpected location, an inbox rule that looks like attacker persistence, or a lookalike domain registration targeting your brokerage brand. At that point, the 30-minute SLA kicks in to contain the threat before it becomes a wire fraud event. Your agents close deals at the same speed. The difference is that the attacker doesn't get a 21-day dwell time to monitor your closings.
We map your full wire fraud attack surface — email security posture, MFA gaps on MLS and transaction platforms, DMARC/DKIM configuration, lookalike domain exposure, 1099 agent BYOD gap, and TREC record retention compliance. You get a 12-page report you can put in front of your E&O carrier, cyber insurer, or managing broker. No credit card. No commitment. Delivered in 14 days.
Get your wire fraud posture report — free →Delivered within 14 days • No credit card • SDVOSB-certified team