Online stock trading platform Robinhood has confirmed that it has fallen victim to a cyberattack. More than five million email addresses, two million names and other sensitive customer data were stolen.
We get to the heart of what exactly happened and how you can best protect yourself.
What happened?
On November 8, Robinhood made public via its blog that the trading platform had been the victim of a social engineering attack. An attacker gained access to some of the company’s databases by manipulating a customer service employee over the phone.
This enabled the cybercriminal to capture around seven million names and email addresses of users of the platform. In addition, a smaller number of other personal data such as zip codes, dates of birth and full names of 310 customers were compromised. Among them are 10 customers for whom further sensitive data has fallen into the hands of the criminals.
The corresponding customers were informed of the incident by the trading company.
According to Robinhood, no sensitive financial information such as account numbers or debit card numbers were affected. Customers have therefore not suffered any direct financial losses as a result of the data theft.
After successfully cleaning and securing the affected systems, the attackers made a ransom demand, which Robinhood did not respond to. Instead, the company informed relevant law enforcement agencies and hired an external security company to investigate the incident.
What are the risks for my company?
What can I do?
If you’re a Robinhood customer, follow these recommendations:
