From the Globe & Mail:
Online broker TradeFreedom Securities Inc. has quietly notified an unidentified number of its customers that a computer security breach has compromised some of their personal information, potentially exposing them to fraud.
In what it described as a follow-up to an Aug. 17 notice to clients, it said in a Friday e-mail that it had finished its investigation into the “recent unauthorized intrusion” of one of its computer systems.
“We have subsequently determined that, despite our security systems in place at the time, this unauthorized intrusion has also resulted in the compromise of some of your personal information,” TradeFreedom said. “This information is your name, social insurance number, city, province and postal code.”
Citing a continuing police investigation by the Sûreté du Québec, TradeFreedom president Bruce Seago said he could not release any details about the nature or timing of the computer security breach.
“We are dealing with our customers on a case-by-case basis and communicating directly with them based on how they have been impacted, if at all, by this situation. Not all of our customers have been,” he said, adding that “not every single customer was impacted in the exact same way.”
The firm was recently picked up by the Bank of Nova Scotia however, the deal has apparently not yet closed.
[tags]Data Security, Privacy, Online Breach, TradeFreedom Hacked[/tags]
I’m one of those affected clients who received 2 emails. 1 on August 17th advising of the breach, and a second one on August 25 outlining the details of what the hacker would have gained access to in my file.
I have written to TradeFreedom, and their new owner ScotiaBank to see
what they’re going to do for me to keep me as a client. I’ve also
written to all of the applicable regulators to advise them of this
problem.
A variety of issues come up with this mistake.
1. This company started out as an internet based firm. If anyone
should have had superior IT security protection, it should have been a
firm that proactively decided to use the net as it’s distribution
model.
2. This company is now recently purchased by one of the largest &
richest financial organizations in Canada. You’d think if anyone has
deep enough pockets to fund the best in security protection, it would
be a big bank.
3. If I can’t trust this firm to keep my personal data confidential
and safe, how can I trust anything else they do or say on a go forward
basis?
We shall see what these guys do on a go forward basis, to fix their
security issue, and see what they are prepared to do to help their
clients if this breach causes identity theft issues, and see what
they’re prepared to do, above and beyond all the rest; to keep me (and
most likely hundreds if not thousands of others) as a client, and not
prompt me to shop elsewhere.
Sorry to hear that you were affected. Thanks for your comments and best of luck in the future.
I am a tradefreedom client who has been effected by this breach. The statement they’ve made, “TradeFreedom’s investigation has not found any evidence that client’s accounts and assets have been compromised”, is untrue. Hackers were able to record personal information including account login and i.d’s. My account alone suffered a $200 000.00 loss. To this date Tradefreedom will not compensate, although admitting the breach was their fault. They somehow feel they are not accountable.
My account details were also hacked and stolen. I suffered a $25000 loss and tradefreedom is not taking responsibility. I am looking for people who may want to join me and take legal action. Please contact me.
memonika@yahoo.com
i will not steal and use other’s account, while there is so much overlapping.is it that my account has been stolen. how to prevent the situation?you know how nasty it is to find that you are not the only user of the account.
i will not steal and use other’s account, while there is so much overlapping.is it that my account has been stolen. how to prevent the situation?you know how nasty it is to find that you are not the only user of the account. And my loss is unestimated.why, both mental and physical.no one can understand. my isolation makes me unsafe about my job, my life also. who can give mu a just comment and treatment. Thanks god, it no longer Friday.vERY IRONICAL AND VERY DEPRESSED.
NEW DAY NEW LIFE AND NEW ACCOUNT. it’s very refreshingand entertainig. i love to take such adventure while i can breathe a little bit during work. I eve take chances that i might get the compromise of the computer. it’s like a human being,with brain, with emotions and with temper.how wondergul if my job contains searching the mystries of website so wide , so fine and so infomative.along with it, i forget how hard life will be. Just make friends with compuers.joyful and what a luxury
My account was compromised, leaving me at risk for identity theft.
The people at Tradefreedom are crooks. Class action SUIT please!
The do not care about your privacy otherwise they would have put proper security measures in place. Scotiabanks takeover was a HUGE mistake for them and they will inherit big problems. Tradefreedom is understaffed, poorly managed. If a financial institution cannot protect your account they are useless.
DANGER!!! Transfer to ANY BROKERAGE IMMEDIATELY. Save your account!!!!
Tradefreedom will not reimburse you. We do not have details on the source of the security breach, it could have been internal as has been shown in the past numerous times.