Ransomware Attacks on Property Records Are Rising 100 Percent Per Year Warns Real Estate Tech CEO

Written by:

Steve Marcinuk

Date:

12 Aug 2025

Share

Share via Facebook

Share via Linkedin

Share via X

Copy to clipboard

Cyber attacks on government property records are doubling each year, leaving homeowners vulnerable and local governments scrambling to protect critical deed and title data, according to one industry expert leading the charge for blockchain adoption.

“By some estimates, ransomware attacks are increasing by 100% year over year,” says Dan Silverman, CEO of blockchain real estate company Balcony. “When a cyber attack happens on a county or municipality, they basically get blacked out. They don’t know who owns what properties or what liens exist – their system becomes a black hole.”

The Rising Threat to Property Records

According to Silverman, the vulnerability stems from outdated technology still used by many local governments. “A lot of the systems were built on something called COBOL from the 1980s. It wasn’t built for today’s world,” he says. In New Jersey alone, municipalities spent between $30-45 million on ransomware attacks last year.

But ransomware demanding payment may be just the beginning. “Eventually, one of these hacks is going to be from a hostile nation that doesn’t want ransom, they just want to create chaos,” Silverman warns. “We can’t wait for that disaster to happen and then start thinking about it. We need security now.”

The AI-Enabled Fraud Wave

Beyond system-wide attacks, Silverman points to an emerging threat enabled by artificial intelligence. “With the rise in AI, people are able to spin up fraudulent documents in seconds,” he explains. “There’s been an uptick in deed fraud because people can create authentic-looking deeds and try to pass themselves off as property owners.”

The combination of aging infrastructure and advancing criminal capabilities creates what Silverman describes as a perfect storm threatening property rights. Social security numbers and other sensitive data are also routinely compromised in these breaches.

A Blockchain-Based Solution

Silverman’s company recently launched what they call the largest blockchain deed initiative in U.S. history with Bergen County, New Jersey, tokenizing records for 460,000 properties. The system distributes property records across multiple nodes, making system-wide breaches nearly impossible.

“You’d have to hack all nodes simultaneously to bring the system down,” Silverman explains. “It’s an added layer of security on top of existing protocols to become more impenetrable towards ransomware attacks.”

The Path Forward

While some property owners may be wary of blockchain technology, Silverman emphasizes that the system actually provides greater security. “This is going to protect your home from being stolen through deed theft and fraud,” he says. “The real estate NFT, just like real estate itself, stays in one place, it doesn’t get up and move across the street.”

According to Silverman, government attitudes toward blockchain are shifting rapidly as the security benefits become clear. “The government needs to be two steps ahead. They need to be more proficient in this technology than the cyber criminals to protect citizens from exploitation.”

With Bergen County’s system now live, Silverman says multiple counties across the country have reached out about implementing similar protections. “We think this is a paradigm shift,” he says. “All counties are going to start waking up and realizing this is the best way to record deeds.”