Rapattoni cyberattack froze MLS property listings across the US

Rapattoni Corporation, a California software and services company that supplies Multiple Listing Service systems to regional real estate associations, was hit by a cyberattack that began on Wednesday 9 August 2023 and took its production network down for days. Because MLS platforms are the shared record of which homes are for sale and at what price, the outage rippled through markets in several states.

In memos to affected MLS operators, Rapattoni said its production network had been hit by a cyberattack, that all technical resources were working around the clock, and that it was investigating the nature and scope of the event. It repeatedly said it had no estimated time for restoration. Agents were left unable to enter new listings, adjust prices or mark properties as pending, contingent or sold, and fell back on phone calls, in-person meetings and public property websites.

The Bay Area Real Estate Information Services, whose roughly 8,200 users lost access, said its data had not been updated since 8 August and set up a backup system for listing changes. The San Francisco MLS and other regional services were also affected.

HousingWire reported that the incident was a ransomware attack and that the FBI was investigating. Ars Technica noted that while the event was widely reported as ransomware, Rapattoni had not publicly said what type of attack shut it down, nor whether any personal information had been compromised.