By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Calling it the “largest-known computer hacking security fraud scheme,” the FBI charged nine people in indictments unsealed Tuesday that allege nine people managed to break into three newswires to access yet-to-be press release about financial information.
The FBI reports that the international scheme netted its participants $30 million in illegal profits.
The suspects are accused of stealing confidential information about companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.
The FBI said the group stole about 150,000 confidential press releases from the servers of newswires.
“The defendants were a well-organized group that allegedly robbed the newswire companies and their clients and cheated the securities markets and the investing public by engaging in an unprecedented hacking and trading scheme,” U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman, District of New Jersey, said in a press release. “The defendants launched a series of sophisticated and relentless cyber attacks against three major newswire companies, stole highly confidential information and used to enrich themselves at the expense of public companies and their shareholders.”
The suspects hail from around the globe, including in the U.S.
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