Feds investigate potential Morgan Stanley hack

Federal investigators are raising the possibility that a hacker might have been responsible for posting Morgan Stanley client information online late last year, according to a report.

The company fired a junior executive in connection with the incident, after he acknowledged taking client data home with him, but law enforcement is now considering whether the financial adviser’s computer was breached by outside hackers. The news was reported by Dow Jones late Wednesday.

{mosads}Morgan Stanley client information has popped up in various places online since the firm first discovered it in late December on text-sharing site Pastebin. Links to client data have also appeared at least twice on Twitter.

Stolen data included client account numbers and investment details. The initial posting in late December included information for 1,200 accounts and an offer of sale for more client data.

Galen Marsh, the adviser who was fired, has denied trying to sell the information or posting it online. He has said he took the data home to study how other advisers approached their customers’ investments.

Marsh has not been arrested, and the federal investigation is ongoing.