Hackers are going to continue to get into all kinds of supposedly secure data, including that of financial advisors. And advisors need a way to keep clients from losing money after a system breach, says Scott Beaudin, the new board of directors’ chair at the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors.

Everything should be done to try to make systems secure, Beaudin says, though hackers are going to find a way in.

“What financial advisors need, and what I have not seen out there is a tool that provides real time information on hacks so advisors can prevent their clients from losing real money,” he says. “Once the money is gone, they will probably never get it back.”

Beaudin, a CFP professional and founder of Pathway Financial Advisors, a fee-only wealth management firm with offices in Vermont and Georgia, took over as chair on September 1. In an interview Wednesday, he expressed his concern that clients could lose their life savings, their homes or their investments once a hacker gets into their systems.

One of the most extreme recent examples of a data breach was the hacking of Equifax and information on the 143 million American consumers who had information stored at the credit reporting agency.

“As a practitioner, my concern is managing the situation after someone hacks into a system, Beaudin says. “They are going to get in no matter how secure you try to make it.

“I’m telling the tech people we need tools to manage the situation in real time. We need to be able to keep hackers from emptying out our clients’ accounts.”