Morgan Stanley fires employee who ‘stole account data from 350,000 clients’

Morgan Stanley has fired an employee for allegedly stealing account information from as many as 350,000 of its wealth management clients and posting some of it on the Internet, the bank said in a statement.

The bank discovered the theft and disclosure of some of the client data on a website on Dec. 27 as part of a routine Internet sweep and quickly got the information taken down, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Morgan Stanley said there is no evidence any clients lost money as a result of the data breach and that sensitive information like passwords or Social Security numbers was not included in the online post.

The former employee publicized information of about 900 clients, including names and account numbers, in what appeared to be an advertisement to sell data to a party who would be willing to pay for it, the person said.

Account numbers for the 900 clients have since been changed, and Morgan Stanley has been notifying affected clients about the data theft.

Morgan Stanley’s investigation into the matter is ongoing, and the bank declined to name the employee or the website. It has referred the matter to regulators and law enforcement authorities, who are conducting separate investigations.