Brokers May See A Huge Onslaught Of Maliciousness Thanks To Equifax

InvestingOnline.com 11/09/2017, 03:21

While many CFD and Forex brokers are running with the tightest security measures possible in the trading industry, it seems those measures may not be tight enough. The new possibility of black market sold information on millions of people creates the likeliness of unfolding attempts to use brokers as money laundering tools.

Equifax Was Breached

It seems the credit reporting company Equifax was breached by hackers. They got personal information on over 140,000,000 people. This includes

Full names
Social Security numbers
Birth dates
and in some cases, Government ID numbers along with credit card numbers

But I Didn’t Share My Information With Equifax

You did not have to to be affected.

Equifax keeps information on many people without their knowledge. They collect credit information on people from over 80 countries.

And now some conspiracies are pointing a huge finger directly at Equifax.

Why?

Several executives in the company supposedly sold up to $2,000,000 worth of shares in the company immediately after discovering the breach.

And….

Equifax Has Set Up What Seems Like A Phishing Website

The company has supposedly set up equifaxsecurity2017.com to see if you are affected by the breach, but the system is a WordPress generated site that has many vulnerabilities. My browser actually warned me the site is dangerous.

The site wants you to enter your name and the majority of your social security number.

What This Means For Brokers And Traders

Brokers just cannot risk that people are using stolen identities to create accounts. Even though many brokers are running extra tight security measures now, they will probably get even tighter.

Be prepared for a slower withdrawal process and tougher standards to be able to create accounts. Some experts envision FBI and Interpol checks on every registered trader.

Will It Come To That?

We hope that this situation does not harm the trading industry. Time will tell.

We do suggest that when you do register with any broker, you send in compliance documentation as soon as possible. This will help you get faster withdrawals.

If you do suspect anyone of being a part of the hacking of Equifax or you see information being sold online from this hack, please report to the cyber authorities of the FBI. The best place to do so is IC3: https://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

If we all work together to halt these cyber villains, trading CFDs and Forex online will be easier for all.

Conclusion

We would love to hear any thoughts about this Equifax hack and the damage done to internet trading.