Financial firm warns 1.2 million files exposed

It may have been a case of carelessness or thoughtlessness, but a Concord, N.H., financial services company is sounding alarms that user names and passwords were shared improperly and could have been responsible for a breach. The passwords were set up to simplify administrative functions 10 years ago, but it could have caused the exposure of private data of 1.2 million customers at Lincoln National, according to an article in Computerworld.com.

It turns out the shared user names and passwords could give anyone access to Lincoln's portfolio information. While the company didn't find any evidence of a breach, it sent letters to 1.2 million customers notifying them about the problem. It ended the use of shared user names and passwords, and it's offering customers identity theft services.

For more on this ID problem:
- see this Computerworld.com article

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