What would be the absolute worst possible time to have a service disruption of any kind? If you answered “the end of the month,” you’d be spot-on. If you’re going to initiate some kind of hack or “attack” on a company that handles servicing, compliance and more, the perfect time to do so would be the end of the month, during an influx of data and paperwork, thus gumming up the works for everyone who relies on your service for expedited material. Thus was the predicament of Ellie Mae.
Ellie Mae responded to the outcry from the mortgage industry by launching a Network Status update page that provides users with up-to-the-minute coverage of the situation as it develops. A message from Sig Anderman, founder and CEO of Encompass read:
“I wanted to personally update you on the Encompass service interruptions that have occurred over the last 24 hours and the progress we’re making restoring Encompass to its full capabilities ...
"After investigating all possible causes, we believe the interruption is consistent with an external, malicious distributed denial of service attack ...
"Lastly, and this goes without saying, we deeply and sincerely apologize. We know the impact this has had on your business, and we will do everything we can to ensure our solutions remain secure and dependable."—Sig Anderman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Ellie Mae Inc.”
On Wednesday, Ellie Mae had fully restored access to all Encompass services, including Encompass Docs Solution, Electronic Document Management (eFolder), Encompass Product and Pricing Service, Encompass Compliance Service and Ellie Mae Network Services.
During the disruption, Ellie Mae took to Twitter for a more direct response to those who have posed concerns via the popular social media site. They were inundated with concerns regarding network viability, as well as concerns regarding the potential compromise of stored, private data.
“A significant number of MCT’s hedging clients use Encompass as its LOS. It is very unfortunate and untimely that a situation of this magnitude transpired at a time of the month that is understandably having significant impacts on mortgage operations. What’s paramount for those affected partners and vendors who work with Ellie Mae and their lenders is be highly communicative and responsive,” said MCT Trading President Curtis Richins. “Ellie is doing an excellent job in keeping its clients, partners, vendors and other parties constantly apprised of status. At MCT, we are ultra-focused on providing instant support and second-to-none service to our hedging customers. Actively monitoring and attending to the Encompass situation is a huge priority for our organization and we will continue communicating with Ellie Mae until we are certain that our clients can operate smoothly.”
