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from the investing-is-easier-when-you-know-the-future dept.
Submitted via IRC for SoyCow4408
At a Kiev nightclub in the spring of 2012, 24-year-old Ivan Turchynov made a fateful drunken boast to some fellow hackers. For years, Turchynov said, he'd been hacking unpublished press releases from business newswires and selling them, via Moscow-based middlemen, to stock traders for a cut of the sizable profits.
[...] Newswires like Business Wire are clearinghouses for corporate information, holding press releases, regulatory announcements, and other market-moving information under strict embargo before sending it out to the world. Over a period of at least five years, three US newswires were hacked using a variety of methods from SQL injections and phishing emails to data-stealing malware and illicitly acquired login credentials. Traders who were active on US stock exchanges drew up shopping lists of company press releases and told the hackers when to expect them to hit the newswires. The hackers would then upload the stolen press releases to foreign servers for the traders to access in exchange for 40 percent of their profits, paid to various offshore bank accounts. Through interviews with sources involved with both the scheme and the investigation, chat logs, and court documents, The Verge has traced the evolution of what law enforcement would later call one of the largest securities fraud cases in US history.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @11:59AM (1 child)
Why would any company send out a financially-sensitive press release in advance? Shouldn't these be sent out (and/or posted on the company website) at the correct time for immediate distribution, like any other press release?
<sarcasm>Besides, if you send these out in advance, how will your own inside traders get an edge on the market?</sarcasm>
"To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it is folly."
Samuel Johnson
(Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Monday August 27 2018, @09:48PM
This is normally done in advance to allow all publications to post the news at the same time. It also gives the media company time to write an article, editorial or analysis on the press release. It's actually amazingly commonplace. They aren't sent out a long time in advance, but having access to these documents even a few hours in advance might be enough to short/hedge a share and make a quick buck.