According to the latest reports, American online brokerage Robinhood Markets confirmed on Monday local time that in the hacking incident last week, about 7 million individuals (about one-third of its total customers) were individuals. Information was leaked, and hackers demanded a ransom.
Robinhood issued a statement acknowledging that hackers obtained the email addresses of about 5 million people and the full names of about 2 million people. For some customers, more personal data was exposed, including the names, dates of birth and zip codes of approximately 310 people, as well as broader information belonging to approximately 10 people.
Robinhood said that the company believes that the November 3 hacking incident did not reveal users’ social security account numbers, bank accounts or debit card numbers, and no customers suffered financial losses. A company spokesperson said that although this is not a ransomware attack, the hacker threatened to do something with the information obtained.
The spokesperson declined to say whether the company paid the hackers. In after-hours trading in New York on Monday, Robinhood’s stock price fell 3% to $36.84 per share. As of the close, it closed up 2.62%.
According to Robinhood’s statement, the hacking was carried out by calling a customer service representative who was used by the intruder to gain access to the support system. The company has contained the intrusion, notified law enforcement, and hired security company Mandiant to investigate the intrusion.
Join RealMi Central on Telegram, Facebook & Twitter
Mandiant Chief Technology Officer Charles Carmakal (Charles Carmakal) said that Robinhood “conducted a thorough investigation to assess the impact,” and his company expects that hackers will continue to target other organizations for extortion in the coming months.
In another incident last year, nearly 2,000 Robinhood accounts were compromised in a hacking frenzy, and client accounts were looted. Many people complain that no one can ask for help. Since then, Robinhood has been working hard to prove that it is a reliable brokerage company for new investors. Executives often repeat Robinhood’s “safety first” strategy.
This brokerage company that helps popularize free trading is aggressively recruiting customer service personnel, and the size of the team has more than tripled in 2020. As part of the expansion, the company opened offices in Arizona, Texas, and Colorado. Last month, Robinhood also launched a 24/7 telephone support service.