Someone cleaned up my IB account (almost)

Discussion in 'Interactive Brokers' started by Mishka, May 6, 2002.

  1. IB has shown itself to be very responsive to the concerns of its customers on numerous items. I am confident they will tackle this security issue and do a good job on it. Def, I think it is obvious however, that now is the time to get this thing under control. The e-mail account confirms are a big problem. Now we see how potentially easy it is to drain your account (not that this problem is unique to IB). Let's get this issue locked down before something else arises. Low commissions are great but impenetrable security is essential.
     
    #21     May 7, 2002
  2. And while IB is at it, give the customer service people the power to lock an account effective immediately, instead of needing to wait until the end of the day. Lots can happen in a very short period of time.
     
    #22     May 7, 2002
  3. ktm

    ktm

    Careful what you give those cust svc folks. Some are not as up to speed as they need to be...maybe give a CS supervisor that kind of weight, but you're right...effective immediately.

    I think it's best to wait and see what comes of this. It will be important to determine how the info was compromised. I have a cable connection and routinely had 30-40 IPs per day hitting my firewall (before I bought the router) probing my machine and storing files on my drives. There are so many potential areas for compromise. I'm sure IB will handle this appropriately. It seems that some of the checks and balances did save the money from being lost in this case.
     
    #23     May 7, 2002
  4. Mishka

    Mishka

    I had pointed out in earlier post that if it wouldn't be for confirmation e-mail, I may not noticed changes in my account till it was done. The person attacking my account thought the e-mail address change would take effect immediately, then he (?) proceeded to make wire request. E-mail change is processed by staff only, but since it was Saturday morning, actual change took place Monday. But somehow he was able to receive all confirmation tokens as I had, enter it to the system to make those changes look legit.
    This morning I received a e-mail "complaint" from this person why I didn't let transfer go through. He said he is poor, need money to trade and I had to help him, promiced to pay me back. What a nerve he has!

    Also I was contacted by IB, they said they'll investigate the matter and will keep in touch with me.
     
    #24     May 7, 2002
  5. ktm

    ktm

    Mishka...

    As others have suggested, I would contact the appropriate law enforcement authorities as well. While IB will fortify it's systems where necessary, I personally would want to take some enforcement action against him...especially now that he has identified himself and admitted the crime.

    He was one step from pulling this off.
     
    #25     May 7, 2002
  6. Mishka

    Mishka

    I did contact FBI as well. This case has international twist with very bad taste. Cannot get into details, but it may be considered as a terrorists attack.
     
    #26     May 7, 2002
  7. One question for you - what does posting in this forum have to do with getting your money back? Further, if you did contact the FBI, they would most likely ask you not to share this information with anyone.

    The whole thing sounds like a crock of shit to me.

    Anyone else notice the number of recent threads from Junior Members slamming IB??? Hmmm...
     
    #27     May 7, 2002
  8. Guess I didn't takes his posts as slamming IB.
    At worst it may have woken up a few people who are lax on security in trade for a perceived better/faster connection etc.
     
    #28     May 7, 2002
  9. Mishka, check this thread for a possible explanation of what happened to you. I'm not surprised, except that it is not happening to more people. IB has been very lucky apparently. Def said that IB is working on fixing this. I'll refrain from adding funds in my account until they do.

    http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=1559

    Make sure that they change your login ID and also maybe the account number. Also change your password after this is done.

    ElvisOnMargin
     
    #29     May 7, 2002
  10. Terrorist attack? Osama lowering his sights these days.
     
    #30     May 7, 2002