In after-hours trading today, Robinhood reported a “data security incident”where a third-party was able to collect information belonging to millions of users. 💀
The full names of two million people, the email addresses of five million people, and other more sensitive information belonging to 310 people were exposed. The company detailed the information in a blog post, where Robinhood said it did not believe the hack involved social security numbers or other highly-sensitive data.
Ultimately, the situation could be much worse. While breaches like these are definitely inconvenient for users and shake confidence in companies, there are way worse hacks out there. Just ask Equifax! 😬
Robinhood has a history with security controversy, though. In May 2020, Robinhood cancelled the newly-made Robinhood debit cards of an unknown number of users after attempted suspicious transactions (some users had not even received their cards.) In October 2020, a Bloomberg report described targeted hacks against Robinhood users. The app failed to respond in adequate time (afterwards, the company rolled out more robust customer support.)
In the end, this breach is just an inconvenience to millions of people.