Morgan Stanley customers woke up to unpleasant news this morning, as the financial services company announced that the names and account numbers of 900 wealth management clients had been posted on the internet. The data did not include passwords or social security numbers, but because of the large quantity of money held in the accounts (typically more than $1 million), any identifiable information is seen as sensitive. The company has been contacting affected clients individually and keeping a close eye on the accounts for any possibly fraudulent activity.
Morgan Stanley singled out a particular employee with stealing the data, although it's still unclear how it arrived on the public web and whether any third parties were involved. "The Wealth Management employee has been terminated, and law enforcement and regulatory authorities have been advised of the incident," the release reads. It's also unclear how long the information was publicly available, although Morgan Stanley says the company detected the exposure and the data was prompty removed.