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Scottrade Gets Hacked
John Stith
Staff Writer
2005-11-28
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Online brokerage Scottrade sent letters out to customers saying they'd been hacked back in October. Scottrade is just the latest in widespread hacking problem that includes many firms much bigger than Scottrade.
The hack occurred in their eCheck Secure (ironic name), which enables customers to set up checking account transactions as an automatic debit through ACH instead of using credit and debit cards. Keep in mind if you didn't use this particular method, then you're probably fine.
ConsumerAffairs.com reprinted part of the letter:
"Some of your personal information, including your name, driver's license or state ID number, date of birth, phone number, bank name, bank code, bank number, bank routing number, bank account number and Scottrade account number may have been compromised. If you used your Social Security number as your driver's license or state ID number, your Social Security number may have been compromised as well."
The letters went out on November 11th but some were claiming to just have received the letters. This led to rather vocal complaints against Scottrade for the delays. In reality, Scottrade wasn't required by law to notify anyone.
This has been a tough year for companies with an Internet presence as numerous firms have been hacked, including companies like Bank of America. This is in addition to the various computers stolen, computer tapes lost and other possible identity fraud problems.
The nasty thing about the Scottrade hack is the crooks went for checking information. This gives them access to all kinds of goodies including drawing money straight from the accounts.
These letters started just days after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a warning to online stock traders telling consumers to be careful of cyberthieves. Since Scottrade's hack happened in October, one can probably assume that the SEC announcement came as a result of the Scottrade incident.
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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