Financial Gurus’ Data Exposed

The Massachusetts Secretary of State's office accidentally sent personal details of 139,000 investment advisers registered with the state to a trade publication earlier this year, the Boston Globe reported last week.

The investment industry publication IA Week sought a list of registered investment companies from the Secretary of State’s Securities Division, which oversees investment companies and financial services regulations. But, owing to a clerical error, IA Week got a CD-ROM that included investment advisers' Social Security numbers and other private information, Channel Web’s CRN news service reported.

The publication returned the CD-ROM and said it had not copied the data, which included names, birth dates and locations, in addition to height, weight and hair and eye color.

While the state is deliberating whether the incident qualifies as a data breach, identity security professionals said those named should expect the worst.

"The users should treat this as if their personal information is now at risk," said David Berman, director of product marketing for Voltage Security. He said the information can be used to obtain false identification and open accounts that could put their financial security at risk.