- IG Securities is mandating clients to enable two-factor authentication on their accounts.
- The firm targets a June deadline and advised clients to make adjustments on time.
- IG Japan recently uncovered issues involving “specific personal information.”
IG Securities, a Japanese subsidiary of IG Group, a leading London-headquartered financial technology company, has begun mandating that all its clients enable two-factor authentication (2FA) by June. According to reports, the firm took this step to tighten account protection following a surge in phishing attacks.
A Complete Security Protocol Switch
The mandatory 2FA will replace IG Securities’ current optional setup and would leave clients who do not adjust to the new protocol locked out of their accounts and unable to log in. Notably, users who have already completed the 2FA setup will not need to adjust their login processes.
Following the announcement of the new login procedure, which is expected to take effect from June, IG Securities advised clients to make the necessary adjustments ahead of the deadline to avoid disruptions. The firm warned that support teams may face a surge in requests around the implementation deadline.
Related : 7 Phishing Gang Members Arrested in Korea for Stealing 800M Won from Virtual Wallets
For clarity, IG Securities’ 2FA setup process requires users to install an authentication app, such as Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator. They will follow up on the installation by enabling 2FA through the IG trading app settings. Notably, this is a typical 2FA setup procedure common to various platforms.
IG Japan’s Security Issues
It is worth noting that IG Japan recently mishandled client data. The group admitted to the incident after uncovering two separate issues involving “specific personal information,” including Japan’s My Number identification details.
According to the broker, the issue arose from unauthorized access to customer records by some employees within the wider IG Group. That incident affected 162,879 clients, exposing their names, dates of birth, addresses, contact details, and My Number data.
A second issue involving IG Japan has 29,734 customer data stored on an external server managed by IG Markets Limited without prior approval from IG Securities. This particular case was attributed to a contractor oversight, which happened in late January.
In the meantime, IG Japan has suspended new vanilla options trades for retail clients just three months after launching the program for individual investors. Although there are no clear links between the suspension and security risks, the firm continues to offer the service to corporate clients, a segment it added later, after expanding vanilla options beyond retail.
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