More than 10k IRA Holders Exposed in Retirement Clearinghouse Breach

Retirement Clearinghouse is a financial services company that got its start in 2001 by the name of RolloverSystems first. This company helps businesses enable their employees to exchange their individual retirement savings accounts for company 401k accounts. This service helps keep employees more financially secure and results in better long-term retirement savings. To offer this service, the company must manage financial data for the company's employees, which is a real issue since Retirement Clearinghouse just experienced a data breach. 

How Did the Attack Occur?

It was first apparent Retirement Clearinghouse was being attacked on March 15, 2023. On that day, the company detected suspicious activity in one or more of its employee email accounts. An attacker broke into the email account and could have looked at confidential data contained within emails and email attachments while access was still available. By March 28, 2023, Retirement Clearinghouse determined that confidential, personal, and financial data for some employees were included in those emails. 

What Information Was Viewed or Stolen?

The email that was breached exposed employees of the Matrix Trust Company. The breach resulted in the loss of Matrix Trust Company IRA account numbers, first and last names, and Social Security Numbers for many different individuals. These details could be used to tamper with savings accounts and also to commit fraud in a number of different ways. If your data was involved in this data breach, you should take measures to protect yourself. 

How Did Retirement Clearinghouse Admit to the Breach?

Retirement Clearinghouse filed a report with the Maine Attorney General on May 12, 2023, explaining the full situation. The report explains that approximately 10,509 IRA account holders were impacted by this breach, and it explains the timeline and how the breach occurred. Along with filing a report, the company sent notices out to anyone it determined was involved in this breach. With over 10,000 people being identified as being involved, a huge number of notices were mailed out. If you receive a notice, your data could have been risked by this breach. 

What Will Become of the Stolen Information?

We don't have exact details about what will happen with the data taken in this breach, but we suspect that fraudulent accounts will be established and money will be lost because of the breach. It's also likely that this breach could result in information being spread around online and sold to other people. It could be very damaging to anyone involved. 

What Should Affected Parties Do in the Aftermath of the Breach?

If you receive a notice about this Retirement Clearinghouse data breach, you should know that you are at risk of being hit by a fraud attack. Your data may be exposed online, accounts may be created without your authorization, and your credit could be ruined. The simplest solution is to invest in credit monitoring services and react to any strange changes that occur to your credit. You could also put a freeze on your credit to protect yourself by preventing the attackers from being able to open up any accounts in your name. If you use the techniques described above, you should be able to avoid most of the issues that are caused by data breaches.