As reported by Chris Vickery

Source 1: https://mackeeper.com/blog/biggest-data-breaches-five-years/

Source 2: https://www.dailydot.com/debug/amp-trading-firm-data-breach/

Quoting 

I’ve come across several finance-related data breaches within the past few weeks, most recently involving the AMP Futures trading platform. While the exact nature of the leak is nothing new, a third-party IT vendor’s unsecured rsync backup device, the amount of money involved is on the large side. The files indicate that AMP has over $50 million on the books and additionally include the private details of over 10,000 account applicants. The portion I downloaded comes to about 70 gigs and represents 97,000 different files. It includes credit reports, passport scans, internal company emails, customer chat logs, and basically everything an identity thief would need in order to mount a serious campaign. I was surprised at the number of plaintext customer passwords discussed in the chat logs (by staff and customers alike). It took a few days for me to make contact with a real person at AMP. This is not entirely AMP’s fault though, as companies related to the stock market close down for the Good Friday holiday, which is then followed by a weekend. The head honcho over at AMP was surprised when I fully explained the situation to him over a phone call. He rightly wondered what AMP was paying its third-party IT company for. If a third party, which specializes in IT, can’t catch this kind of leakage themselves, there is some serious improvement to be done. AMP’s CEO was relieved to hear that I wasn’t trying to sell him anything or attempting any sort of blackmail or extortion, and I’m thankful he understood that I merely discovered the unsecured data rather than causing it to become unsecured. That’s a distinction many people fail to grasp, especially when their company is potentially in the hot seat.

Quoting 

A data breach at an online futures trading brokerage left exposed thousands of files, including credit reports, passport scans, and customer chat logs. The leak, now secured, was identified and reported by Chris Vickery of the Kromtech Security Research Team. It was caused by a misconfigured backup device managed by a third-party IT vendor. The trading firm was identified as AMP, a company that offers numerous platforms for online futures trading. According to the Online Brokers Hub, the company is based in Chicago, Illinois. While the issue with the backup system is not uncommon, the breach is notable for the amount of money that passes through AMP’s systems. “The files indicate that AMP has over $50 million on the books and additionally include the private details of over 10,000 account applicants,” Kromtech reports. Vickery reported that about 70GB of data had been sitting on the open web, consisting of roughly 97,000 files. “It includes credit reports, passport scans, internal company emails, customer chat logs, and basically everything an identity thief would need in order to mount a serious campaign,” Vickery said. “I was surprised at the number of plaintext customer passwords discussed in the chat logs (by staff and customers alike).”

Mike

Mike

Mike

Thanks Mike,

In an increasingly "digital" world it is to be somehow expected that data breaches are on the rise too.


Neither article however makes clear whether the leaked data had been stolen by a 3rd party or not before being secured.


Either way, this is not good publicity for AMP.

"It includes credit reports, passport scans, internal company emails, customer chat logs, and basically everything an identity thief would need in order to mount a serious campaign."

"I was surprised at the number of plaintext customer passwords discussed in the chat logs (by staff and customers alike)."

(quoting the original author, Chris Vickery)

Mike

Some body knows if that info was posted ONLINE o r into deepweb?

I'd change password straight away

Why do these corporations, AMP, Sony et al continue to store our passwords and data in plain text and unencrypted? This is really sensitive info. Passport copies?! Seriously?

Email going out to customers of AMP

Dear Customer,

AMP Global Clearing, LLC (AMP) is sending you this notice to keep you updated about your data on our servers. We were recently approached by a Cybersecurity research company with a claim that they had discovered a vulnerability in one of our back-up file storage server.

AMP responded by working with its IT service providers to ensure all vulnerabilities were eliminated in that server. The Cybersecurity research company then confirmed that the vulnerability had been resolved.

We have worked with the Cybersecurity research company, to ensure that all proper steps were taken to safeguard our customers’ information.

We are in direct communication with this Cybersecurity Company and our regulatory agencies. They have confirmed the files they accessed are currently encrypted, pending the instructions of the SEC.

From our understanding, this company’s mission is to make the cyber world safer by educating businesses and communities worldwide, with the goal of helping to protect data, identifying data leaks and following responsible disclosure policy.

At this time, AMP is confident that there are no vulnerabilities on any of our servers. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to our customer service representative.