Is it sheer pride that prohibits companies from admitting the fallibility of their data servers? TD Ameritrade is the latest in a string of security-breach deniers. Possibly hacked as early as October 2006, Ameritrade's servers divulged users' names, addresses, email accounts and account activity. When email accounts were pumped full of spam messages, a couple users sued Ameritrade in late May — indicating that there was a breach. Ameritrade delayed issuing an official release until last Friday, conveniently timed to beat a lawsuit that sought a court ordered release.

Contact information for this author is not available.