Scottrade, an online brokerage firm revealed that it was a victim of a data breach, which affected around 4.6 million customers. The data breach occurred between late 2013 and early 2014.
The online brokerage received a notice from federal law enforcement officials that they are investigating cybersecurity crimes involving the theft information from financial services companies including Scottrade.
Scottrade believed that its network that the hackers targeted the names and addresses of its clients. According to the online brokerage firm, “It appears that contact information was the focus of the incident” although the social security numbers email addresses and other sensitive data were included in the system that was breached by the hackers.
Scottrade strengthens its network defenses
Scottrade believes that its trading platforms and client funds are secure. It has no reason to believe that those were compromised. The online brokerage firm emphasized that the passwords of its clients remained “fully encrypted at all times.”
“We have not seen any indication of fraudulent activity as a result of this incident. We have taken appropriate steps to further strengthen our network defenses,” said Scottrade.
The online brokerage firm added that the known intrusion point had been secured, and an internal data forensics investigation on the incident had been conducted with the help of a leading computer security firm.
Scottrade offers identity protection to customers
Scottrade is offering identity protection services to its clients whose information was included in the target database as a precaution.
“We take the security of the information entrusted to us very seriously and are fully cooperating with law enforcement in its investigation and efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice,” according to Scottrade.
Federal prosecutors recently filed lawsuits against traders and hackers for allegedly profiting more than $100 million from traded based on illegally obtained information.
In one of the indictments, federal prosecutors alleged that five of the defendants hacked the computer systems of newswires and stole not-yet-released press releases about the earnings of numerous publicly traded companies.
