Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 17 submissions in the queue.
posted by Fnord666 on Monday August 27 2018, @06:45AM   Printer-friendly
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 For years, Turchynov said, he'd been hacking unpublished press releases from business newswires and selling them, via Moscow-based middlemen, to stock traders for a cut of the sizable profits.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.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/22/17716622/sec-business-wire-hack-stolen-press-release-fraud-ukraine


Original Submission

Related Stories

“Disabling Cyberattacks” Are Hitting Critical US Water Systems, White House Warns 36 comments

https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/03/critical-us-water-systems-face-disabling-cyberattacks-white-house-warns/

The Biden administration on Tuesday warned the nation's governors that drinking water and wastewater utilities in their states are facing "disabling cyberattacks" by hostile foreign nations that are targeting mission-critical plant operations.

"Disabling cyberattacks are striking water and wastewater systems throughout the United States," Jake Sullivan, assistant to the president for National Security Affairs, and Michael S. Regan, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, wrote in a letter. "These attacks have the potential to disrupt the critical lifeline of clean and safe drinking water, as well as impose significant costs on affected communities."

[...] The letter extended an invitation for secretaries of each state's governor to attend a meeting to discuss better securing the water sector's critical infrastructure. It also announced that the EPA is forming a Water Sector Cybersecurity Task Force to identify vulnerabilities in water systems. The virtual meeting will take place on Thursday.

"EPA and NSC take these threats very seriously and will continue to partner with state environmental, health, and homeland security leaders to address the pervasive and challenging risk of cyberattacks on water systems," Regan said in a separate statement.

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Monday August 27 2018, @07:24AM (5 children)

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Monday August 27 2018, @07:24AM (#726816) Journal

    So the business newswires didn't have those press releases afterwards?

    Note that I'm not saying what those people did was right. They obtained unauthorized access to computer systems, did corporate espionage, and were involved with insider trading. But it was not stealing.

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Monday August 27 2018, @12:11PM (1 child)

      by requerdanos (5997) on Monday August 27 2018, @12:11PM (#726867) Journal

      Be careful; I have found that there is an alarmingly sizable contingent of monomaniacs on this site whose one issue is "If something is wrong, you must call it stealing--only saying 'stealing' conveys that something is wrong".

      No matter how many laws against, for example, copyright infringement, seem to be able to shake them of this laughable notion.

      I salute your commitment to reality and truth. These guys are like our very own flat earth contingent.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Monday August 27 2018, @12:17PM

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday August 27 2018, @12:17PM (#726868) Journal

        Where are you even getting this notion from? This site is full of people who know that "copyright infringement != theft" and that "piracy == swashbucklers plundering a ship". Maybe you overdosed on AC comments?

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday August 27 2018, @06:15PM (2 children)

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Monday August 27 2018, @06:15PM (#727045) Journal

      But it was not stealing.

      In this narrow case I think you could argue it was stealing.

      Consider:
      The press release contains a secret.
      Hackers tell everyone about the secret.
      The business actually has been deprived of that secret because it's not a secret anymore.

      • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday August 27 2018, @07:41PM

        by maxwell demon (1608) on Monday August 27 2018, @07:41PM (#727099) Journal

        But if the lost thing was the secrecy, then it is not stealing, as when it stopped being a secret, it also wasn't a secret for the hackers. Therefore they didn't steal the secrecy, they destroyed it.

        --
        The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
      • (Score: 2) by Spamalope on Tuesday August 28 2018, @01:03AM

        by Spamalope (5233) on Tuesday August 28 2018, @01:03AM (#727198) Homepage

        They stole money from the other traders by having the insider information. If it were gambling they peaked at the cards before betting, which steals from everyone at the table. (but I take the semantics point)

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Monday August 27 2018, @10:07AM (1 child)

    by Gaaark (41) on Monday August 27 2018, @10:07AM (#726835) Journal

    They steal elections, they steal stock info, they let you pee on them...

    ...what's next? Kalishnikovs that transform into electric cars?

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Monday August 27 2018, @04:36PM

      by requerdanos (5997) on Monday August 27 2018, @04:36PM (#726980) Journal

      ...what's next? Kalishnikovs

      I think it's калашников (≅ Kalashnikov), not калишников (≅ Kalishnikov), my good comrade.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @11:59AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @11:59AM (#726866)

    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

      by Fluffeh (954) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 27 2018, @09:48PM (#727147) Journal

      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.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @01:20PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @01:20PM (#726878)

    Not even close. The 2008 AIG real estate mortgage insurance scam, abetted by Bill Clinton (repealed Glass Steigall) and aided by George W. Bush, (had an AIG exec on his cabinet) certainly takes the cake on that one.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @01:48PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @01:48PM (#726886)

      Do we know the full depth of this fraud case yet? The fine article mentions "traders" (plural) that took advantage of the advance information, have all of them been tracked down...and charged?

(1)