Fidelity Investments – one of the world’s most prominent asset managers – has reported that a data breach in August affected the personal information of over 77,000 customers.
The breach, which occurred between August 17 and August 19, 2024, allowed an unauthorized third party to gain access to two customer accounts.
No Evidence of Data Misuse Yet
The compromised sensitive information revealed during the incident includes the customers’ full names, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and other personal details, as per a filing with the Office of Maine’s Attorney General.
In a letter to its customers notifying the breach, Fidelity assured individuals that, while the team is unaware of any misuse of personal information acquired during the event, they are taking proactive measures to protect their client’s financial well-being.
Fidelity said that the breach was detected on August 19, after which the asset manager promptly terminated the unauthorized access and launched an investigation. They have also enlisted the help of external security experts to assess the situation.
The information accessed by the unauthorized third party involves a small subset of customers. The popular crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuer maintained that this incident did not involve any access to customers’ actual Fidelity accounts.
“We recently completed our review of the impacted information and determined that the following personal information related to you was among the information retrieved. We take this incident and the security of your information very seriously. Upon detecting this activity, we promptly took steps to terminate the activity and address this incident.”
Fidelity Offers Free Credit Monitoring After Breach
As a precaution, Fidelity has arranged for affected customers to enroll in a complimentary credit monitoring and identity restoration service for 24 months.
This service, provided by TransUnion Interactive – a subsidiary of TransUnion, one of the three major credit reporting agencies – allows customers to monitor their credit reports closely and detect any unusual activity that could impact their financial status.
Fidelity’s official website indicates that the company has $14.1 trillion in assets under administration and $5.5 trillion in assets under management. The asset manager has a team of more than 75,000 associates located in 11 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
In August, CryptoPotato reported that Fidelity’s digital asset management division was also said to be exploring stablecoins and tokenized treasury products.
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