Bloomberg Under Fire for Terminal Breaches

Bloomberg terminals are a staple of Wall Street technology culture, allowing access to data and trading applications throughout the financial-services industry. Daniel Doctoroff, CEO at the company, said that reporters had been able to see "high-level functions" such as when a user had logged in and an account created, but not extremely sensitive areas such as portfolio information and trading blotters. The ability of journalists to see this data was reportedly revealed when a Bloomberg reporter, inquiring after the employment status of a Goldman Sachs partner, asked if they had left the company as they hadn't logged in for some time.

"Having recognized this mistake, we took immediate action. Last month we changed our policy so that all reporters only have access to the same customer relationship data available to our clients," says Doctoroff, in a statement on the Bloomberg website. "Additionally, we decided to further centralize our data-security efforts by appointing one of our most senior executives to the new position of Client Data Compliance Officer. This executive is responsible for reviewing and, if necessary, enhancing protocols which among other things will continue to ensure that our news operations never have access to confidential customer data."

The US Treasury and the Federal Reserve have confirmed that they are actively investigating the issue.