ADP says hackers targeted clients in phishing scam

NEW YORK, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Automatic Data Processing (ADP.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the payroll processor, on Friday said hackers stole business contact information about clients from a third-party database and were now sending bogus and potentially harmful e-mails.

ADP said the information taken did not contain social security numbers, bank accounts, passwords or confidential data. ADP said its own systems were not attacked.

However, the stolen e-mail addresses were being used to send bogus e-mails that look like they have a valid ADP address. The fictitious e-mails, which began appearing about 24 hours earlier on Thursday, have "malicious" attachments and are believed to have been sent to compromise data of the recipients, ADP said.

Earlier on Friday, online brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp (AMTD.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said computer hackers accessed a database and stole contact information for its 6.3 million customers. (Reporting by Joseph A. Giannone)