Hacking the computers of registrars, e.g. those of notaries, is one of the popular ways of carrying out raider attacks on real estate. In order to combat such misdoings, the Government of Ukraine has introduced an additional option of authorization of real estate registrars via Google Authenticator, said the Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Dmytro Dubilet.
“From now on, any action of a registrar would require not only the use his/her electronic signature, but also entering a code from his/her smartphone. It is almost impossible to hack a computer and a smartphone at one time,” – wrote the Minister at his Facebook page on Thursday.
According to the official, by infecting a registrar’s computer with a virus, a violator changes the victim’s real estate registration record on the registrar’s behalf. However, in cases when there hasn’t been any computer hacking and the registrar conducted a misdoing by himself, he/she always had an option to report to the police that his/her computer had been hacked, wrote the Minister.
Previously, to combat such schemes the Government planned to oblige all registrars to install a complicated hardware and software complex, which would have caused significant spending. At the same time, explains Mr. Dubilet, the banking experience proves that authorization with the help of an SMS-password may be an efficient way to counteract such violators.
“This is the approximate pool of arguments, which I’ve used to persuade my colleagues to put a stop to the costly protection program and introduce a second authorization factor instead. The only thing that I’ve suggested was using Google Authenticator instead of spending money on SMS-passwords. Luckily, it is free,” – wrote the Minister.
Mr. Dubilet also added that at the moment the second authorization factor was just an option. However, the Ministry of Justice plans to make it mandatory soon.
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