Robinhood Data Breach Steals Personal Data from 7 Million Users

Millions of Robinhood users are feeling regret for handing over their personal information to the online stock trading platform. The company announced in a blog post yesterday that an unauthorized third party has gotten ahold of user data, including the email addresses of more than 5 million users, in a data breach.

Robinhood claims the data security incident occurred late evening on November 3, resulting in about 7 million customers’ information being revealed to the hackers. Luckily, for 5 million of them, only their email addresses were accessed. As for the other 2 million, their full names were revealed.

We believe that no Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, or debit card numbers were exposed and that there has been no financial loss to any customers as a result of the incident.

Robinhood

The circumstances are more serious for around 310 people who had more sensitive information revealed, including full names, dates of birth, and zip codes. For a few people among that group, “more extensive account details were revealed,” according to Robinhood.

The financial service company says that the unauthorized third party gained access through customer support systems by impersonating an authorized party to an employee over the phone. Robinhood employees quickly informed law enforcement after ransom was demanded.

Providing investing platforms with information such as your social security number, driver’s license, email address, etc., feels a bit risky each time, and this particular incident proves it actually is.

In Robinhood’s case, as reported by Statista, the number of users who put trust into the app has drastically grown over the years from half a million in 2014 to an incredible 22.5 million in 2021. Unfortunately, it would come as no surprise if many of those users’ trust is broken following this incident. 

How Can I Tell If I’m Affected?

Robinhood is continuing to investigate the breach and inform its impacted customers. The company writes, “We are in the process of making appropriate disclosures to affected people.” Keep your eye on your email for a notice from Robinhood, or possibly a letter in the mail.