Dec 4, 2018

HENRICO, Va., Dec. 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Equity Concepts announced today that it began notifying clients of a security incident involving some of its employees' email accounts. On September 11, 2018, Equity Concepts discovered an incident involving some of its employees' email accounts. Equity Concepts conducted an investigation, secured the email accounts, and retained a leading computer forensic firm to assist with its investigation. The investigation revealed that an unauthorized individual had gained access to certain Equity Concepts' employees' email accounts and may have downloaded the contents of the employees' email accounts. After conducting a thorough review of the contents of the email accounts, Equity Concepts determined on November 1, 2018 that the affected emails may have contained client information including names, financial account numbers, contact information, and in some cases, Social Security numbers or medical information. Equity Concepts' internal network and client file systems, which are distinct from its email systems, were not accessed. Equity Concepts began mailing letters to affected clients on November 29, 2018. Additionally, Equity Concepts is offering one year of complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection services to those whose Social Security numbers were affected. Although Equity Concepts has no evidence that any client personal information has been misused, Equity Concepts encourages its clients to remain vigilant by reviewing their account statements for any unauthorized activity and reporting such activity to Equity Concepts. Equity Concepts has also established a dedicated call center, available at 877-495-1970 from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, to answer any questions that affected clients may have. For additional information regarding this incident, please visit the Equity Concepts website at https://equity-concepts.com/notice-of-security-incident/ . To help prevent something like this from happening in the future, Equity Concepts has added enhanced security measures, including requiring that employees use two-factor authentication when accessing Equity Concepts' email platform from outside its offices. Equity Concepts will also be conducting additional training and education for employees regarding email security. Associated Press