Posted on 02/05/2011 9:44:06 AM PST by FromLori
Hackers have repeatedly penetrated the computer network of the company that runs the Nasdaq Stock Market during the past year, and federal investigators are trying to identify the perpetrators and their purpose, according to people familiar with the matter.
The exchange's trading platform—the part of the system that executes trades—wasn't compromised, these people said. However, it couldn't be determined which other parts of Nasdaq's computer network were accessed.
Investigators are considering a range of possible motives, including unlawful financial gain, theft of trade secrets and a national-security threat designed to damage the exchange.
The Nasdaq situation has set off alarms within the government because of the exchange's critical role, which officials put right up with power companies and air-traffic-control operations, all part of the nation's basic infrastructure. Other infrastructure components have been compromised in the past, including a case in which hackers planted potentially disruptive software programs in the U.S. electrical grid, according to current and former national-security officials.
"So far, [the perpetrators] appear to have just been looking around," said one person involved in the Nasdaq matter. Another person familiar with the case said the incidents were, for a computer network, the equivalent of someone sneaking into a house and walking around but—apparently, so far—not taking or tampering with anything. A spokesman for Nasdaq declined to comment.
A probe into the matter was initiated by the Secret Service and now includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
They just got bored with xbox play in moms basement.
Either the Chinese or the Russians, take your pick.
There was a Tom Clancy novel that featured this scenario, IIRC.
“....the equivalent of someone sneaking into a house and walking around but—apparently, so far—not taking or tampering with anything.”
Total BS. They could be front running trades (what Madoff investors thought Bernie was able to do), sniffing the data to look for pattens or information, putting delay bugs in there to allow them to front run, who knows.
True. They don’t have to tamper with anything; just download the code to search for future exploits.
Why bother hacking in from the outside when....
Lom-anBill: "So you mean, at level of the software and hardware that handles wire-transfers, the separation between Argent and Ameriquest is an illusion propped to maintain a facade of compliance with the attorney's general agreement?"East Asian temporary contract worker: "Ha ha ha! Yeah but nobody knows that"LomanBill: "Ha ha ha? It's not your country that's being raped, is it, a$$hole?"
Yes hackin should be left to NASDAQ professionals
Plenty of both with H1B sponsorship.
Another little calling card from our Chinese friends.
Among the many Achilles heels of the demise of open-outcry.
Joe Saluzzi on High-Frequency Trading: The Equity Market Is Now Controlled By The Machines
Machines screw up.
You know, I’ve been saying this for ten (and a half) years.
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