Safeguarding Your 401(k) From Cyber Theft
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your money briefing for Friday, February 12th. I'm Charlie Turner for The Wall Street Journal, filling in for J.R. Whalen.
What is the rise in cyberattacks targeting 401(k) accounts and why should retirees care?
Cybercrimes are an unfortunate fact of life, and now there's growing concern about attacks targeting 401k retirement accounts.
Federal law protects consumers by and large from fraudulent charges on credit cards. So I thought maybe the same thing would pertain with 401k accounts, but it turns out that it's an area of the law that's very ill-defined.
Coming up, our retirement reporter Ann Tergesen will discuss 401k cyber theft, what it is, what you can do if you become a victim of it, and how you can defend against it. After the break...
We all worry about saving enough for retirement through accounts such as 401ks. But with cyber theft now a common concern, you might also want to think about safeguarding your 401k from theft. Experts say hacking into 401ks is on the rise, not just to steal personal information, but also the money you have stored in the accounts. Let's find out more about cyber theft from retirement accounts, as well as tips for preventing it from happening to you from our retirement reporter, Anne Turgason.
How do hackers typically gain access to 401(k) accounts using identity information?
Anne, thanks for joining us.
You're welcome.
So what do we know about 401k cyber theft, generally how it works?
Well, I think it can work in a number of ways, but the case that I'm most acquainted with in that situation, it appears that somebody basically stole a woman's identity, successfully hacked into her retirement account, having such information as her social security number and her date of birth. And when they got into her retirement account, they were able to add a bank account that wasn't hers, that obviously belonged to the perpetrator, and were able to transfer money out successfully that way.
Well, what types of people are likely to be hackers?
It seems like the history of this is that there's been cases of relatives hacking into these accounts and taking money out and stealing money. But what's becoming more prominent over time is cyber hacking by strangers who might even be located in different countries.
Well, how big a deal is that? How prevalent is this?
A big problem here is that there really isn't a lot of data. At least there's not a lot of data that's publicly available.
Who are the perpetrators of 401(k) cyber theft — relatives or international hackers?
And people who probably who have that data aren't really willing to share it. So it's hard to know for sure. It seems like just by talking to people in the industry, sort of on an anecdotal basis, that cyber hacking into 401k plans or attempts to break in are increasingly prevalent. But successes at breaking in and taking money out are significant. They still seem like they're fairly infrequent. So it's not something that people need to get completely alarmed about, but they should take some basic common sense steps to safeguard their accounts.
Well, how is it different from other types of financial fraud? I'm thinking, you know, credit cards, debit cards.
Right. So I was a little bit surprised because, you know, I think we're all well aware that when somebody steals our credit card, you know, sometimes we'll even get a call from the credit card company immediately saying, you know, are you in a bowling alley right now or something? But you know that even though it's an alarming thing, you know that you're not going to be held liable for those charges because, as I discovered, federal law protects consumers by and large from fraudulent charges on credit cards. So I thought maybe the same thing would pertain with 401k accounts, but it turns out that it's an area of the law that's very sort of ill-defined.
How common are successful 401(k) account breaches and what data gaps exist?
And so at this point, it's not really clear that it does protect people. In fact, it seems that it probably doesn't.
What are companies and retirement managers doing to safeguard account holders? I'm sure they have a vested interest in this.
Yeah, so 401k record keepers, the people who administer your 401k account, they're doing a huge amount to try to protect people. It's not good for them if people break into your 401k account and steal your money.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:06–0:13
2
What is the rise in cyberattacks targeting 401(k) accounts and why should retirees care?
0:13–1:23
3
How do hackers typically gain access to 401(k) accounts using identity information?
1:23–2:28
4
Who are the perpetrators of 401(k) cyber theft — relatives or international hackers?
2:28–3:40
5
How common are successful 401(k) account breaches and what data gaps exist?
3:40–4:13
6
Does federal consumer-protection law cover fraudulent withdrawals from 401(k)s like credit-card fraud?
4:13–4:57
7
What security measures are 401(k) record keepers using to prevent account takeovers?
4:57–6:40
8
What practical steps should consumers take to safeguard their 401(k) accounts online?
6:40–7:37
Speakers
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