On May 12, 2023, Retirement Clearinghouse filed a notice of data breach with the Maine Attorney General after learning that an unauthorized party had gained access to an employee email account that contained confidential information pertaining to certain individuals. Based on the company’s official filing, the incident resulted in an unauthorized party gaining access to consumers’ names, Matrix Trust Company IRA account numbers and Social Security numbers. After confirming that consumer data was leaked, Retirement Clearinghouse began sending out data breach notification letters to all individuals who were impacted by the recent data security incident.
If you received a data breach notification from Retirement Clearinghouse, it is essential you understand what is at risk and what you can do about it. As we’ve discussed in prior posts, hackers prefer to target organizations that possess sensitive information that can easily be used to commit identity theft. The most useful information to hackers are Social Security numbers, and once a hacker obtains your SSN, they can usually locate whatever other information they need to steal your identity. To learn more about how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft and what your legal options are in the wake of the Retirement Clearinghouse data breach, please see our recent piece on the topic here.
What We Know So Far About the Retirement Clearinghouse Breach
News of the Retirement Clearinghouse data breach is still fresh; however, what we know at this point comes from the company’s filing with the Maine Attorney General. According to this source, on March 15, 2023, Retirement Clearinghouse detected suspicious activity within an employee’s email account. In response, Retirement Clearinghouse secured the account and then launched an investigation in hopes of learning more about the nature and scope of the incident, as well as whether any consumer data was leaked as a result.
On March 28, 2023, the Retirement Clearinghouse investigation confirmed that certain emails and attachments contained confidential consumer data that were accessible to an unauthorized party.
Upon discovering that sensitive consumer data was made available to an unauthorized party, Retirement Clearinghouse began to review the affected files to determine what information was compromised and which consumers were impacted. Retirement Clearinghouse completed its review of the data on May 3, 2023. While the breached information varies depending on the individual, it may include your name, Matrix Trust Company IRA account number and Social Security number.
On May 12, 2023, Retirement Clearinghouse sent out data breach letters to all individuals whose information was compromised as a result of the recent data security incident.
More Information About Retirement Clearinghouse
Originally founded in 2001 as RolloverSystems, Retirement Clearinghouse is a fintech services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company assists its business clients in transferring individual retirement savings accounts to reduce 401(k) cashouts and increase financial wellness. Due to the nature of this business, Retirement Clearinghouse collects information about individual account holders from organizations to facilitate the transfers. Retirement Clearinghouse employs more than 87 people and generates approximately $20 million in annual revenue.
