The commission-free cryptocurrency trading app, Robinhood, was left red-faced earlier this week after the company had to admit to some users that it was storing their passwords unencrypted, in plaintext. Luckily for those affected, the goof-up didn’t lead to any serious data breach. Robinhood says the compromise occurred because of a technical glitch which has since been taken care of.

For Safety, Check Your Email and Use 2FA

In a conversation with CNBC, a Robinhood spokesperson acknowledged that the company became aware of the issue on Monday evening and from there, it took less than 48 hours to identify the source of the glitch.

They further clarified that no security breach was involved and no third party gained access to the exposed passwords. The company, however, remains tight-lipped about the number of people affected.

The spokesperson added that everyone affected by the gaffe was duly alerted with the recommendation that they should change their password asap as a fail-safe measure. If you are an active trader on the platform and haven’t received any alert from Robinhood yet, you might want to double-check and comb through your email inbox (and the Trash, SPAM folders, just in case!).

For added security and peace of mind, you might want to reset your password anyway. It’s simple — pull up the app and use the “reset password” button on the log in page. Web users can do the same by visiting the Robinhood login/signup page.

While there, you might also want to go that extra mile by setting up two-factor authentication (2FA) so you have at least one added layer of defense even if someone managed to lay their hands on your password. Here’s how you can activate 2FA on your Robinhood account.

While leaving passwords in plaintext might sound like a rookie blunder for a company of Robinhood’s stature, even bigger Silicon Valley fishes including the likes of Google and Facebook admitted having committed similar goof-ups in the past.

Were you affected by the recent Robinhood incident? Let us know in the comments below!

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