I know I was. I had a unique e-mail for Datek, which got bought by TD Waterhouse then Ameritrade. Started getting the same spam in both my unique e-mail and my very private (at that time) personal e-mail that was a backup contact. Ameritrade refused to believe they were the problem despite the obvious signs.
Back in July 2006, I posted an entry on my blog (http://www.billkatz.com/node/77) and the comments showed a lot of people having the same problem. The most troubling aspect was their constant denial of the problem and the length of time it took to find the cause. Ameritrade said this in e-mails to their customers over a year ago:
"We thoroughly reviewed our systems and data sent
to third parties with access to e-mail addresses and found no misuse or compromises of any of our systems or storage
mediums for e-mail addresses. Additionally, after further
review of our systems, there is no indication that your account information held with Ameritrade has been compromised. Please be assured that we regularly contract leading edge security firms to conduct network and application penetration tests to test the security of our network and web presence. We also employ a staff of full time employees solely dedicated to Information Security."
Back in July 2006, I posted an entry on my blog (http://www.billkatz.com/node/77) and the comments showed a lot of people having the same problem. The most troubling aspect was their constant denial of the problem and the length of time it took to find the cause. Ameritrade said this in e-mails to their customers over a year ago:
"We thoroughly reviewed our systems and data sent to third parties with access to e-mail addresses and found no misuse or compromises of any of our systems or storage mediums for e-mail addresses. Additionally, after further review of our systems, there is no indication that your account information held with Ameritrade has been compromised. Please be assured that we regularly contract leading edge security firms to conduct network and application penetration tests to test the security of our network and web presence. We also employ a staff of full time employees solely dedicated to Information Security."