Plan sponsor employers and employees participating in 401(k) or other retirement plans should be aware of cybersecurity breaches and unauthorized plan distributions. Vigilance may be even more critical because of the March 2020 CARES Act legislation that permits early retirement distributions without penalty for plan participants affected by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The heightened level of plan distributions coupled with the security risks associated with electronic communications and the “new normal” of working remotely, sometimes on personal computers, may increase the exposure of participants’ confidential and personal data to cybercriminals. While employees may envision their 401(k) plans as safely tucked away for retirement, their accounts may be vulnerable to cyber fraud.

Click here to read the full GT Alert, “Coping with the Increase in 401(k) Cyberattacks and Fraudulent Plan Distributions.”

* Reproduced with permission. Published June 18, 2020. Copyright 2020 The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. 800-372- 1033. For further use, please visit http://www.bna.com/copyright-permission-request/