Robinhood says data breach affected 7 million users

• It said so far it does not believe there has been financial loss to any user from the breach.

How it works: Robinhood said an "unauthorized third party socially engineered" one of its employees to gain access to customer support systems.

• The hackers were able to obtain a list of email addresses for some five million people that have used the trading app, and full names for a different group of approximately two million people.
• The third party was also able to access the names, dates of birth and zip codes for least 310 people.
• After containing the intrusion, Robinhood said the third party demanded an extortion payment.

What they're saying: "As a Safety First company, we owe it to our customers to be transparent and act with integrity," said Robinhood chief security officer Caleb Sima.

• "Following a diligent review, putting the entire Robinhood community on notice of this incident now is the right thing to do," Sima added.

The big picture: The company said it is still in the process of disclosing the breach to affected users.

• It is working with law enforcement and a private security company to investigate the intrusion.

Go deeper ... Revealed: How Robinhood harmed millions of its customers