We are used to hackers hacking their way through cars and dating sites, but the ability of hackers helping insider traders earn millions sounds interesting. This is probably the first insider trading scheme that has ever happened in the world. Hackers and stock traders teamed up to steal thousands of unpublished corporate press releases. The hackers used the financial information kept in the press releases to make illegal trades that earned up to $100 million.
The police said.”This is the story of a traditional securities fraud scheme with a twist — one that employed a contemporary approach to a conventional crime.”
“The hackers based in Ukraine stole 150,000 unpublished press releases from PR Newswire, Businesswire, and Marketwired. They shared the releases with traders over the course of five years. Panera Bread, Home Depot, and Hewlett Packard are among the companies that had press releases stolen. The traders allegedly shared a portion of their illicit profits with the hackers in exchange for the information, and sent wish lists of companies whose information they wanted the hackers to access. This is the largest scheme of its kind ever prosecuted.” The prosecutors said.
Surprisingly the hackers were young people trying to get a better life for themselves. Ivan Turchynov, 27, and Oleksandr Ieremenko, 24, were accused of hacking into the PR newswires. Seven traders — Pavel Dubovoy, 32, of Ukraine, and Arkadiy Dubovoy, 51, Igor Dubovoy, 28, Vitaly Korchevsky, 50, Vladislav Khalupsky, 45, Leonid Momotok, 47, and Alexander Garkusha, 47, were accused of using the stolen press releases to make illegal trades that earned a profit of more than $30 million.
“Today’s indictment sheds light on an increasingly complex threat to both our country and the financial sector,” Rodriguez said. “But just as criminals continue to develop relationships with one another in order to advance their objectives, the law enforcement community has developed a collaborative approach to fighting these types of crimes.”
A related civil suit raised more than $100 million in illegal profits. This was filed by The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against 17 individuals and 15 corporations. The corporate world is corrupt and full of criminals who take advantage of their company’s vulnerability to benefit themselves in one way or another. Reports Digital Trends.
In Kenya anybody can be hacked. The digital government can not even protect their own social media accounts that always fall vulnerable to hackers. The banks and other corporate institutions report hacking cases everyday but the security personnel working with cyber security firms are always sleeping.
