Online stock brokerage company Scottrade said that the names and addresses of about 4.6 million of its customers may have been stolen by hackers.
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Unauthorized access to the network was gained for several months between late 2013 and early 2014, and the incident may have affected anyone who had a Scottrade account prior to February 2014, a notification and FAQ explained. 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.
“We appreciate and value the trust you place in us”, the company said in its statement on the breach. The company says it targeted client names and street addresses.
It said it was notifying customers of the hack “as a precaution”.
Financial information, such as client funds or trading platforms, are not said to have been compromised, the company said. All client passwords were encrypted and there has been no sign yet of fraudulent activity.
Scottrade is offering affected customers a year of complimentary identity protection services through AllClear ID. It also assured clients that they take information security seriously and that they are working together with authorities to bring the cyber criminals to justice.
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Looking forward, the company said that it has secured the intrusion point the attackers used to get into its systems, and conducted an internal investigation with the help of an unnamed computer security firm.
