A person claiming to be an "ethical hacker" recently contacted the American Land Title Association to say that he or she had acquired sensitive data from title and settlement companies as part of a phishing campaign, the group announced July 3.

Phishing is an online scam in which someone poses as a trusted source to ask for confidential information, such as account usernames and passwords. In an alert to members, ALTA said it was contacted via Twitter by a person who provided files containing approximately 600 data entries consisting of domain identification, IP addresses, usernames and passwords for multiple companies. The person described him or herself as an ethical hacker.

There is no evidence the data came from a specific data breach, ALTA said. The group also believes the person is contacting individuals and companies he or she has identified from the data.

ALTA said its IT team is analyzing the data. In the meantime, the group is urging companies that may have been targeted to take steps to protect their data, such as by scanning their systems for malware and updating their software.