A MAJOR global asset manager has revealed 77,000 costumes had personal information compromised in a data breach which included Social Security numbers and drivers licenses.
Fidelity Investments, one of the world’s largest asset managers, confirmed that an unnamed third party accessed its systems in August “using two customer accounts that had recently been established”.
Michael Bruemmer, Vice President of Experian Global Data Breach Resolution and Consumer Protection says people must act fast after a data breach[/caption]
Fidelity investments claims they immediately notified affected customers after the breach[/caption]
According to a data breach notice filed by Fidelity with the Massachusetts attorney general, highly personal information was accessed including Social Security numbers and drivers licenses.
Fidelity has more than 51 investors amassing $14.1 trillion in customer assets.
Fidelity said the incident did not involve any access to Fidelity accounts and that it “immediately” took steps to terminate the access.
A total of 77,099 customers were caught up in the beach which occurred between August 17 and August 19 this year.
When approached by The U.S. Sun, Fidelity said it first identified the activity on August 19 and “immediately took steps to terminate the access.”
The investment giant said it “promptly” launched an investigation with assistance from external security experts.
“The information obtained by the third party related to a small subet of our customers and the incident did not involve any access to Fidelity customers’ accounts or funds.
“We are notifying individuals as appropriate and providing them credit monitoring resources,” a Fidelity spokesman told The U.S. Sun.
“We recognize our customers may have questions about this event and we have resources in place to assist them.”
WHAT TO DO IF YOUR INFO IS COMPROMISED
Cybersecurity experts said consumers must act fast if they believe they were caught up in the breach.
Global Data Breach Resolution and Consumer Protection Vice President at Experian, Michael Bruemmer, exclusively told The U.S. Sun the investors could take a number of steps to protect themselves.
Bruemmer said consumers should follow the instructions of the impacted company, which may include signing up for a complementary identity protection monitoring service.
Bruemmer also said people may want to consider freezing their credit reports.
“This will make it more difficult for criminals to open a credit account in your name.”
If you have been impacted by a data breach, time is of the essence
Michael Bruemmer
Cybersecruity firm Huntress senior researcher Truman Kain exclusively told The U.S. Sun that Fidelity’s systems were vulnerable to attack because of internal issues.
“The attacker used fraudulent requests to access these document images,” Kain said.
“In other words, there was a vulnerability in the way that particular system was designed, which allowed customer accounts to access documents other than their own.”
Kain said affective individuals should be concerned about identity theft and future phishing attacks.
Kain said customers should use strong, unique passwords and two factor authentication.
People should also always remain vigilant against phishing emails and monitor their financial accounts by regularly checking credit reports, investment accounts and bank statements for suspicious activity.
“If your data is stolen, it is recommended that you freeze your credit with the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) to minimize the chances of new lines of credit or accounts being opened in your name,” Kain said.
