1.2 Million Notified of Data Breach

Lincoln National has begun notifying 1.2 million customers of a possible data breach, according to a letter posted to the New Hampshire Department of Justice’s Web site. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority was given a username and password combination that let anyone access Lincoln’s portfolio information system.

“This username and password had been shared among certain employees … and employees of affiliated companies,” Lincoln National’s letter states. This is in violation of the company’s security policy. The portfolio system is used by the company’s subsidiaries, Lincoln Financial Securities and Lincoln Financial Advisors.

This system contains names, Social Security numbers, account numbers and balances, dates of birth and e-mail addresses, data that could be misused by identity thieves if the password should fall into the wrong hands.

Victims will be notified by mail and offered free credit monitoring.