D.R. Horton recently began notifying mortgage applicants that they may have had personal information exposed in a software security breach. The cause behind the situation is currently unknown as the company pushes for a full investigation, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek report.

DHI Mortgage, the D.R. Horton branch that experienced the breach, immediately contacted law enforcement officials and investigators to help determine the reason for the incident, the news source reported. In response to the incident, the company is improving its data security standards to avoid similar situations in the future.

It is currently unknown how many people were affected, although anyone that gave sensitive information to the company prior to February 11 may have been harmed. The disclosed data could include names, dates of birth, Social Security and sensitive financial numbers, Businessweek noted.

According to the Dataloss Database, there have already been more than 130 data breaches in 2012, compared to nearly 900 in all of 2011. By strengthening data security and compliance standards, an organization may be able to ensure its sensitive information is kept safe from unnecessary exposure.