SEC initiatives that could affect financial advisors

On April 12, 2018, our chief compliance officer (CCO), Ms. Manal Fouz, attended the Compliance Outreach Program in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The conference is designed to promote better communication between securities regulators and compliance officers. A limited number of CCOs from registered investment advisory firms nationwide are approved by the SEC to attend in person, while others can watch online. Here are 3 take-aways you may be interested in: 1) Continued focus on older clients and protecting them from financial exploitation The SEC continues to focus on how firms deal with their older clients and those who demonstrate diminished mental capacity. Sadly, most financial exploitation cases involving older clients is perpetrated by family members. At Azzad, we’ve already implemented a few best practices mentioned during the conference. They include allowing you to assign a trusted contact on your account. A trusted contact is someone we can talk to in case we can’t reach you or want to confirm your requests. Your trusted contact won’t be able to conduct actual transactions with your accounts, so a power of attorney (POA) is best for those cases. You can expect more questions from us if

June 2, 2018 No Comments

How to respond to fraud or a data breach

Time is of the essence, whether your personal data has been compromised as part of a larger targeted cyberattack or you are the victim of fraud or an individual cybercrime. You’ll need to take immediate action to minimize the impacts. These are steps you should take within specified time frames after discovering your data has been breached. Within the first 24-48 hours 1. Call your advisor, regardless of where or how the breach occurred, so he/she can watch for any suspicious activity in your accounts and collaborate with you on extra precautions to take in verifying your identity prior to any fund transfers. 2. Call the Social Security Administration’s fraud hotline at 800-269-0271 if you suspect your Social Security number has been compromised. The Office of the Inspector General will take your report and investigate activity using your Social Security number. The Social Security Administration also provides helpful materials, such as the pamphlet Identity Theft and Your Social Security Number. 3. Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), either at www.identitytheft.gov, by calling 1-877-IDTHEFT (TTY 1-866-653-4261), or by visiting www.ftc.gov. Click on Report Identity Theft to access the Identity Theft Recovery Steps. This one-stop resource for victims of identity theft will

October 3, 2017 No Comments

Top five cybersecurity tips

Last month, a widespread ransomware attack, known as WannaCry, rapidly affected numerous organizations across over one hundred countries. As cyber threats continue to evolve, we must work together to ensure these criminals can’t access your personal data or accounts. Here are 5 protective measures you can take to avoid becoming a victim. 1. Keep your equipment up to date Install the most up-to-date antivirus and anti-spyware software on all your devices that connect to the internet. Next, set each device to run regular scans to update your software. This includes updating your operating system and installing the latest security patch. In fact, the WannaCry virus targets computers using unsupported versions of Windows. If you’re running an older operating system, Microsoft recently issued an update in response to WannaCry. 2. Be strategic with passwords and security questions An analysis in Security magazine earlier this year found that out of 10 million stolen passwords, the most common password was “123456.” A strong password should be at least eight characters long and use a combination of lower-case letters, upper-case letters, numbers, and symbols. Avoid dictionary words and personal information such as your name and address. You should have a separate password for each

May 31, 2017 No Comments