Equity research provider in the US discloses data breach affecting over 800,000 customers

Zacks Investment Research, one of the largest providers of independent stock and mutual fund research in the US, has started notifying customers of a security incident involving unauthorized access to sensitive personal information last year.

“On December 28, 2022, Zacks learned that an unknown third-party had gained unauthorized access to certain customer records,” the company said. “We believe the unauthorized access occurred sometime between November 2021 and August 2022. Upon this discovery, Zacks took immediate action to implement additional security measures to our network, and to investigate and understand the scope of the incident.”

Although the company could not confirm whether the information was also stolen or abused, Zacks did clarify that the breach only impacted Zacks Elite members who joined the program between Nov ember1999 and February 2005.

Potentially compromised information includes full names, phone numbers, physical addresses email addresses and passwords of 820,000 customers.

In response, Zacks says it has “implemented additional security measures to our network and a process so that your Zacks account cannot be accessed with the compromised password.”

Customers are also required to immediately change their passwords for their Zacks account and any other platform that shares the same login credentials. Customers should also remain vigilant against phishing attempts, and closely monitor financial accounts and credit reports to avoid any identity-related crimes.

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