Recently, National Financial Services LLC (“NFS”) filed a notice of data breach with the Attorney General of Massachusetts on behalf of MML Investors Services LLC, a subsidiary of MassMutual. In this notice, NFS explains that the incident resulted in an unauthorized party being able to access sensitive information belonging to certain individuals. Upon completing its investigation, NFS began sending out data breach notification letters to all clients of MML Investors Services whose information was affected by the recent data security incident.
If you received a data breach notification from National Financial Services LLC, MML Investors Services, or MassMutual, it is essential you understand what is at risk and what you can do about it. A data breach lawyer can help you learn more about how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft, as well as discuss your legal options following the National Financial Services / MML Investors Services data breach. For more information, please see our recent piece on the topic here.
What Caused the Data Breach Affecting MML Investors Services?
The National Financial Services / MML Investors Services data breach was only recently announced, and more information is expected in the near future. However, NFS’s filing with the Attorney General of Massachusetts provides some important information on what led up to the breach. According to this source, NFS provides clearing and execution services for brokerage accounts held through MML Investors Services LLC.
On August 19, 2024, NFS learned that an unauthorized party accessed and obtained information from its computer network between August 17, 2024 and August 19, 2024. Evidently, the unauthorized party used two Fidelity brokerage accounts they had recently opened.
In response, NFS terminated all unauthorized access and launched an investigation with the help of outside cybersecurity experts. Through this investigation, NFS confirmed that an unauthorized party was able to access and obtain information it had received from MML Investors Services.
After learning that sensitive consumer data was accessible to an unauthorized party, National Financial Services reviewed the compromised files to determine what information was leaked and which consumers were impacted.
National Financial Services recently sent out data breach letters to anyone who was affected by the recent data security incident. While the publicly available data breach letter on the Massachusetts Attorney General’s site doesn’t mention what type of data was leaked, these personalized data breach letters should provide victims with a list of what information was compromised.
More Information About National Financial Services LLC
Established in 1983, National Financial Services LLC is a registered broker-dealer and one of the largest providers of brokerage services in the United States. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, National Financial Services is a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments. National Financial Services LLC provides trade execution, clearing, and other related services for brokerage accounts held at Fidelity and elsewhere.
