loanDepot cyberattack causes data breach for 16.6 million people

loanDepot disclosed a ransomware incident from January 3 that forced system outages and encryption of files; subsequent investigation determined an unauthorized party accessed and stole sensitive personal information for about 16.6 million people. The company reports progress restoring loan origination and servicing systems, will notify impacted individuals, and is offering free credit monitoring and identity protection, but has not specified which data elements were exposed — increasing risk of phishing and identity-theft targeting affected customers.