On Feb. 11, a puzzled customer of The Vanguard Group noticed that the firm had sent him 72 emails. But only one of them was meant for him.
Vanguard has a history of problems with online security and security of customer information, which I’ve written about here and here.
For its latest glitch, you can read my column today.
Over the years, the mutual fund giant the Vanguard Group has had no peer among financial companies when it comes to goodwill from customers and the media. It regularly dominates various “best” mutual fund lists put together by financial publications. Founder John C. Bogle is so celebrated for his focus on low costs and doing the right thing for the small investor that he’s frequently referred to as “Saint Jack.”
So why is a vocal collection of current and former employees putting so much energy into blasting the heralded operation? I address that question in my latest column for TheStreet, which you can read here.
The Vanguard Group, the world’s largest mutual fund company, has fired a whistleblower who shared information with TheStreet about deficiencies in the company’s customer account security.
Karen Brock, a client relationship administrator in Vanguard’s Scottsdale, Ariz., office, had told me that customers could access their Vanguard accounts even after entering typographical errors in their personal security answers. In my own account at Vanguard, I have repeatedly tested her assertions and found them to be true.
Brock also had detailed the complaints of a customer who said that he had asked his son to mimic his voice to test Vanguard’s “Voice Verification System.” Vanguard’s system allowed the son to gain access to the father’s account, Brock said. She also shared an internal training document where the names, email addresses, phone numbers and account numbers of several current or prospective clients had evaded the redaction process.
You can read my article about Brock’s firing here. You can see the original article that led to the firing here.
I spoke with Alison Morris of Fox 5 News in New York about my story on security lapses at the mutual fund giant The Vanguard Group. You can watch the video here.
CNBC’s SquawkBox invited me in yesterday to discuss my story about The Vanguard Group’s online security. A whistleblower has been speaking with me on the record about a complaint she filed against Vanguard with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You can read the article here.
And here’s the CNBC video:
A whistleblower has gone to the Securities and Exchange Commission with complaints about the security of customer accounts and information at The Vanguard Group.
The world’s largest mutual fund company told me that its security is strong. But the whistleblower, who spoke to me on the record about her complaints, disagrees. You can read my latest column for TheStreet here.