April 24, 2013
Dear Valued Clients,
On April 23rd, Schwab was one of the most recent targets of a “denial-of-service” attack perpetrated by a third party. A denial-of-service attack is an attempt to disrupt normal access to a website. As a result, access to our client websites was blocked for nearly two hours. A similar attack on April 24th intermittently slowed access to our websites.
These attacks did not involve unauthorized access to client accounts or client data. We sincerely apologize to each and every one of our valued clients and recognize how frustrating this situation is. We know that uninterrupted access to our websites is a fundamental expectation.
Denial-of-service attacks are, unfortunately, an increasing fact of life in an interconnected world. Despite managing multiple redundancies, data centers, links, and Internet carriers, on relatively rare occasions these attacks have succeeded at blocking access to web-based services throughout our industry.Although phone services were available during these incidents, there was a period on April 23rd in which wait times were excessive as clients unable to access the web called our phone service teams. If you believe your trades were affected, please call us at 800-435-4000 to discuss your personal situation with one of our professionals.
Based on the history of denial-of-service attacks on other companies, we anticipate these attacks may continue against our industry – and us – for some time. We will continue to work with the industry and law enforcement to ensure our websites are available without interruption. If at any time you cannot access our websites, please contact us at 800-435-4000 or visit us at one of our branches for assistance accessing your account.
Sincerely,
Walt Bettinger
President and CEO |
