Cybersecurity at LPL

… and our commitment to our investors

At LPL Financial, security is built into everything we do, and the protection of sensitive information is critical to our company’s continued success. Cybersecurity concerns are more prevalent than ever with cybercriminals constantly evolving and using different techniques to commit financial fraud. We understand the need to educate our financial professionals about these ever-changing threats.

Cybersecurity as a business differentiator

At LPL, we take the security and privacy of our financial products seriously and embed security into the conception, design, and implementation of our platforms. LPL tools are only available to LPL clients. We build these tools with security at the forefront:

  • Sensitive data is secured, masked, and encrypted where applicable to provide a secure experience.
  • Design, architecture, and code reviews are performed to ensure industry best practices and adherence to LPL polices.
  • Regular scanning for vulnerabilities is performed on the products, environment, and supporting infrastructure.
  • Penetration testing is completed by third-party experts.
  • Recurring patching and modernization are implemented regularly.
  • Fraud alerts placed on user profiles if suspicious activity is identified.
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Understanding the Cyber Fraud Guarantee

As cyber-threats continue to evolve and make headlines, LPL prospects, financial professionals, and clients have expressed an interest in LPL’s capabilities and position relating to potential cyber-incidents and the impact to LPL accounts.

LPL will reimburse you for 100% of realized losses in your impacted LPL accounts, which were incurred directly as a result of unauthorized access to an LPL system.

Travel Tips and Mobile Device Security Description

More people are starting to finalize travel plans as we approach the summer months.  As you travel, it’s important to remember some basic tips to stay safe, avoid falling victims to scams, and prioritize security over convenience.  We’ve provided some general best practices surrounding traveling and mobile device security.

LPL’s Security Operations Center

LPL’s Security Operation Center is an ultra-modern facility where dedicated teams work to monitor, detect, prevent, and respond to potential cyber-threats. These teams are constantly reviewing potential threats and once a threat has been identified, they offer proactive feedback to impacted parties with guidance to remediate known issues.

Securing Your Accounts

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Passwords

Since passwords are your first line of defense, having strong passwords is an important first step to protecting your accounts from fraud. Passwords are used daily to access accounts or applications and a password lacking complexity is more likely to be compromised.

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Mobile Device Security

Mobile devices have become standard for both business and personal use, but many devices remain open to exploits due to rapidly evolving technology. All devices that contain sensitive information should stay protected. 

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Keep Your Computer Safe

In today’s digital age, computers are commonly used for both personal and business purposes. Keeping your computer safe should be a priority for keeping personal and sensitive information secure.

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Protecting Your Identity

As more of our interactions take place in the digital world, more of our personally identifiable information (PII) is at risk. PII can refer to information of a personal or financial nature that is protected by legal and regulatory requirements. Examples include, but are not limited to: social security numbers, birth dates, financial account numbers, and driver’s license numbers. While a birth date may not seem like PII, when combined with other identifying data elements, cybercriminals can gain access to your information.

Freezing your credit is an easy and convenient way to protect your identity. As consumers, protecting your identity should be a priority. By freezing your credit, you’re preventing new accounts from being established with your information.

Avoiding Cyber Attacks and Scams

Cybercriminals continue to evolve and find new tactics for their scams, but there are still ways to spot certain scams and cyber-attacks before it’s too late. Educate yourself about avoiding these attacks to stay one step ahead.

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Phishing

Phishing attacks are created by cybercriminals to trick unsuspecting people to click a malicious link or open a malicious attachment received via email. The malicious links or attachments can lead to a fake website or contain viruses that can compromise your device. These attacks are dangerous because cybercriminals need only one point of entry to gain unauthorized access. 

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Ransomware

This form of malware is a malicious software that blocks access to files on the impacted network, computer, or device. Once ransomware is deployed, cybercriminals contact their victim to alert them to make an electronic payment to restore their access. The cybercriminals will threaten to corrupt or leak data if the ransom payment isn’t made.

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Holiday Scams

Every year, millions of Americans shop for friends and family as they search for the perfect gift. Unfortunately, criminals are hard at work during this time of the year to commit fraud to unsuspecting people.

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Tech Support Scams

Malicious attackers using a tech support scam want you to think your computer has several issues such as a virus or fraudulent activity on your computer. They use various methods for contact such as a phone call, pop-up message, or phishing email.

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Romance Scams

Romance scams occur when bad actors connect with their victim via social media and gain the trust of their victim after communicating for an extended period of time.

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Investment Scams

Investment scams begin with bad actors offering a low risk, high reward investment opportunity that promises quick money or “guaranteed returns”.

Related Cybersecurity Articles

Cybersecurity 101: Keeping Information Safe

It’s important to LPL that you keep both your client and your own information safe, now more than ever as we work remotely. Here are four tips to get started.

Advisors, Giving Clients Easy Access to their Financial Information

Provide your clients transparent insights into their financial information, goals and more, which they can access 24/7 from any of their devices.

Going Digital at LPL: Efficient and Secure

Spend less time on routine tasks for your advisory practice, and focus more on your clients' needs and business growth strategies.


Hello LPL, my name is Mike Terry, I work on the Information Security Team at LPL Financial and today I’m going to provide you with some helpful cybersecurity tips to remember.  As bad actors continue to evolve their tactics to increase the success of their cyber-attacks, we’re working hard to educate as many people as possible about cybersecurity to help identify these attacks and reduce their success.  Today I’m going to talk about being smart while traveling and protecting your devices.

So are you ready??  OK, let’s go!

Always value security over convenience.  You should never leave your belongings unattended in public places, and be aware of where your items are at all times.  Another tip is to avoid unsecure public Wi-Fi.  Unsecure public Wi-Fi are networks that won’t require a password or networks that have a password posted for anyone to use and join that network.  There are risks associated with using these networks.  If you must access unsecure Wi-Fi network, we recommend using a virtual private network (VPN) to allow for safe usage.

Also, as you travel, a good tip is to avoid public charging ports as there are risks associated with using these as well.  By carrying a portable charger with you it’s a great way to avoid using public charging ports all together.  You can simply plug your devices into the portable charger as you travel to keep the batteries on the devices fully charged.  The FBI also recently issued a warning about avoiding the public charging ports. 

The last tip for today is about securing mobile devices like cell phones and tablets.  It’s important to add passwords to these devices because if they are lost or stolen, the password adds a layer of protection to prevent unauthorized access to the apps and data on the devices.  Another thing to remember is to clean your devices of any old or unused apps.  It was recently reported that hackers have managed to compromise millions of android devices via malicious updates via apps.  Also, keep your software up to date.  Software repairs and changes are distributed in the form of software updates, also known as “patches.”  These patches are important because they repair known vulnerabilities that bad actors can exploit to compromise devices or commit fraud later down the line.

So we hope that you take this information we’ve given you today to implement in your personal life to stay a little safer and to reduce your risk.  I hope you have a great rest of the day and stay safe.