Fergie's Tech Blog

Hackers Compromised LPL Financial Security

Bruce Kelly writes on Investment News:

For the second time in a year, LPL Financial has experienced a major technology snafu, this time reporting that hackers "compromised" the logon passwords of 14 financial advisers and four assistants.

The hackers’ goal was to use the passwords to gain access to customer accounts in order to "pump and dump" penny stocks.

The incidents, which began last July, affected 10,219 clients, Boston-based LPL said in a letter dated May 6 to Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler.

Valuable private client information was at stake, Keith H. Fine, senior vice president and associate counsel of LPL wrote in the letter, as the hackers potentially could get their hands on clients’ unencrypted names, addresses and Social Security numbers.

posted by Fergie @ 7/09/2008 12:58:00 PM