Changed wire instructions
The signature risk of the industry. Email authentication plus a mandatory phone verification rule closes it.
Real Estate
Stop the wire fraud before it starts
Brokerages lose more money to business email compromise than to any other technology failure. We harden email and identity, support agents as full-time remote workers, and keep MLS, CRM and transaction platforms usable from a phone in a driveway.
🛡 Email Hardened⏱ Agent-First Support💰 Never Outsourced★ Family Owned
Overview
The threat model is money in motion
Real estate is one of the most targeted industries in the country for business email compromise, because the transactions are large, the timing is public and the parties are numerous.
The attack is straightforward. Someone gains access to a mailbox, an agent, a transaction coordinator, sometimes a party at the title or escrow company, and watches quietly. When a closing approaches, they send updated wire instructions from a lookalike domain or from the compromised mailbox itself, timed to arrive when the buyer is expecting exactly that message. The money moves, and recovery windows are measured in hours. Every brokerage should assume this will be attempted against one of its transactions.
The technical defenses are specific and they work. Multi-factor authentication on every mailbox, including agents who insist they do not need it. Conditional access rules that block sign-ins from countries you do not do business in. DMARC, SPF and DKIM configured to enforcement so your domain cannot be spoofed. Impersonation and lookalike-domain protection so a message from a near-miss domain is flagged. Alerting on new inbox rules and mail forwarding, which is how intruders hide their tracks. External sender banners so a message that appears to come from inside is visibly marked when it does not. Our Pod Guard service configures and monitors all of it.
The process defense matters just as much: a standing rule, communicated to every client at the start of every transaction, that wire instructions are never sent or changed by email, and that any instruction must be verified by calling a number the client already had. We help brokerages write that into their engagement materials and their email signatures, and we test staff with simulated phishing so the habit is real rather than theoretical.
The rest of real estate IT is about supporting people who are never in the office. Agents live in the MLS, in a CRM such as Follow Up Boss, BoldTrail or Sierra Interactive, in transaction platforms like Skyslope, Dotloop or the Lone Wolf suite, and in e-signature tools all day, on a phone, from a car. That means identity is the perimeter, not the office firewall. We manage that with cloud identity, device policies for both company and personal devices, and support that reaches an agent wherever they are, see Pod Care and our real estate IT microsite.
Turnover is the last piece. Agents move brokerages, and when they do, access has to end cleanly while brokerage records stay with the brokerage. We build offboarding that revokes accounts and sessions the same day, preserves the mailbox and transaction files the firm is required to keep, and removes brokerage data from personal devices without touching the agent’s personal content.
Verify wire instructions by phone, using a number you already had. Every time, no exceptions.Orca IT, Gilbert AZ
What We Handle
The brokerage checklist
Built around how agents actually work and how brokerages actually lose money.
Email authentication at enforcement
DMARC, SPF and DKIM configured properly so your brokerage domain cannot be spoofed, with reporting reviewed rather than ignored.
Mailbox compromise detection
Alerts on new forwarding rules, impossible-travel sign-ins and suspicious inbox rules, which are the earliest signs of a takeover.
MFA and conditional access for agents
Enforced on every account including part-time and referral agents, with policies tuned so it does not become something people work around.
MLS, CRM and transaction platform support
Account provisioning, single sign-on where available, integration troubleshooting and help that reaches an agent on a phone in the field.
Personal device management
Brokerage data contained in managed apps on personal phones and laptops, remotely removable without touching personal photos or messages.
Same-day offboarding
Access revoked, sessions killed, records preserved for the brokerage, and brokerage data pulled from devices the day an agent departs.
Where It Goes Wrong
Six real estate specific risks
Every one of these has cost a brokerage somewhere real money.
An agent with no MFA
One unprotected mailbox is enough. We enforce coverage across every account, not just staff.
Client files in a personal Dropbox
Transaction records outside brokerage control cannot be preserved or produced. We give agents a compliant place to work.
A departed agent still has access
Months later, the account is live and the phone still syncs. Same-day offboarding ends it.
A lost phone with everything on it
Managed enrollment means remote removal of brokerage data in minutes, with personal content untouched.
Listing photos and video everywhere
Large media scattered across drives and cards. We centralize storage and back it up properly.
Real estate IT questions
How real is the wire fraud risk?
It is the most serious financial technology risk in the industry, and it is attempted constantly against brokerages, title companies and buyers. The reason it works is that the fraudulent message arrives exactly when the recipient expects wire instructions. Technical controls reduce the chance of a compromise, and a strict phone verification rule prevents the loss even when a convincing email gets through.
Our agents are independent contractors. Can you still manage their devices?
Yes, with a model built for it. Brokerage data lives inside managed applications on the agent's own device, which lets you enforce encryption and a passcode for that data and remove it remotely, without the brokerage controlling personal photos, messages or apps. Agents keep their devices, the brokerage keeps the ability to revoke access.
What happens when an agent leaves for another brokerage?
We revoke accounts and active sessions the same day, remove brokerage data from managed devices, preserve the mailbox and transaction records the brokerage is required to retain, and transfer any shared files to the appropriate owner. Doing this by a documented process avoids the common situation where a departed agent still has live access months later.
Do you support MLS access and CRM platforms?
We support the surrounding infrastructure, account provisioning and single sign-on where the platform offers it, and we troubleshoot integration issues between your CRM, transaction management and e-signature tools. For issues inside a platform we handle the vendor case. Most agent tickets we see are actually identity, browser or device problems rather than platform faults.
Is Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace better for a brokerage?
Either works. Microsoft 365 Business Premium bundles device management and endpoint security, which is valuable if you want brokerage control over agent devices. Google Workspace is simpler to administer and often a better fit for a team that lives in a browser. The important part is the configuration, not the brand: MFA, conditional access, email authentication and retention all have to be set deliberately.
How do we protect client documents?
Keep them inside brokerage-controlled storage rather than personal cloud accounts, with permissions by role and transaction, retention that matches your record-keeping obligations, and backup independent of the platform vendor. External sharing goes out through links with expiry rather than attachments that live forever in a stranger's mailbox.
Can you help our agents directly, or only the office staff?
Agents directly. In this industry the agent is the user, and support that only covers the front office is not useful. Agents get the same help desk access as staff, and because the work is mobile, most of it is handled remotely and quickly rather than by scheduling a visit.
We are a small team, not a large brokerage. Is this overkill?
No. Wire fraud does not scale with brokerage size, and a small team often has weaker controls than a large one. The core set is affordable: managed Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, MFA everywhere, email authentication, backup and a written verification rule. Flat per-user pricing means a six-agent team pays for six people.
Protect the closing, protect the client, protect the brokerage.
Free audit of email security and offboarding, with a written report you keep.
Talk to Your Pod
One spoofed email can cost a client their down payment.
We will audit your email security, agent device posture and offboarding process at no cost, and show you exactly where a wire fraud attempt would succeed today.
(602) 677-0779Family owned in Gilbert, AZ since 2015 · onsite across the Phoenix metro · remote support nationwide · never outsourced
Same-day response
No long contracts
Flat, honest pricing
Five-star service
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