Forrester , one of the world 's leading market research and investment advisory firms , admitted late Friday afternoon to a security breach that took place during the past week . The company says that a yet to be identified attacker ( or attackers ) has gained access Attack.Databreach to the infrastructure hosting its website — Forrester.com . Forrester is using this website to allow customers to log in and download research specific to their contracts . The company provides statistics , trends , and other market research , which clients use to take decisions before launching new products or business endeavors . Attacker stole Attack.Databreach site credentials and stole Attack.Databreach proprietary research Steven Peltzman , Forrester 's Chief Business Technology Officer , says the attacker stole Attack.Databreach valid Forrester.com user credentials that gave him access to Forrester.com accounts . `` The hacker used that access to steal Attack.Databreach research reports made available to our clients , '' he said . `` There is no evidence that confidential client data , financial information , or confidential employee data was accessed or exposed Attack.Databreach as part of the incident , '' Peltzman clarified . Even if no sensitive customer data was stolen Attack.Databreach , the market research information to which hackers had access Attack.Databreach is very valuable in the hands of an economic espionage hacker group , allowing it to determine what technologies are Forrester 's customers working on , or what products they 're ready to launch . This information could then be resold on dark markets or competitors , or hackers could also use it to select future targets — companies that are ready to launch valuable products . `` We recognize that hackers will attack attractive targets — in this case , our research IP . We also understand there is a tradeoff between making it easy for our clients to access our research and security measures , '' said George F. Colony , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Forrester . `` We feel that we have taken a common-sense approach to those two priorities ; however , we will continuously look at that balance to respond to changing cybersecurity risk . '' Forrester is the fourth major financial and business entity that suffered or announced a security incident in the past month . The other three include credit rating and reporting firm Equifax , the US Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) , and accounting , auditing , and corporate finance consulting firm Deloitte .