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British and US stock markets
Cyber raids hit British and US stock markets
LONDON: Stock exchanges in Britain and the United States have enlisted the help of the security services after finding out they were the victims of cyber attacks, The Times newspaper reported yesterday.
The London Stock Exchange has been working with the British government after discovering an attempted terrorist attack on its headquarters just behind St Paul's Cathedral last year.
US intelligence officials are also probing a cyber attack on an American exchange and have traced the hacker to Russia, according to The Times newspaper.
And there is suspicion in Britain and the US that this raid may have been an attempt to rock Western financial markets.
Such concerns expose a new problem in the battle to maintain national security: the protection of key economic assets.
Cyber raids in particular are a growing threat to companies and governments, with incidents up by more than 500 per cent in two years, The Times reported.
'Make no mistake, the United Kingdom's critical infrastructure is under attack. The threat is advanced and persistent,' a leading British cyber security expert said.
The London Stock Exchange, which trades about £5 trillion (S$10.2 trillion) of shares a day, declined to comment.
But the seriousness of the threat became clear 10 days ago when hackers raided the European Emissions Trading Scheme, stealing many millions of euros' worth of polluting rights. The incident has caused the carbon market to shut down. The knock-on effect has seen prices increase and the market remain closed while security is beefed up.
The security services are also examining unexplained stock-market shocks for evidence of cyber attacks, including two last year that wiped billions of pounds off the value of some of the largest companies in Britain and the US, The Times reported.
On May 6, markets in the US experienced a 'flash crash' that wiped an estimated US$866 billion (S$1.1 trillion) off leading companies including General Electric and Procter & Gamble.
In Britain, an incident on Aug 24 resulted in five companies including BT and Next experiencing wild fluctuations in their share prices.
Both cases have been attributed to technical faults and there is no official evidence of market manipulation. However, sources in the intelligence community say that those incidents are of the type that is now being examined on both sides of the Atlantic for evidence of cyber attacks, The Times reported.
Stock exchanges are essential for the health of the Western financial system but security experts have cautioned that any organisation holding valuable information could be a target for cyber criminals. 'If your organisation thinks it could become a victim of a cyber attack, it probably already is,' a cyber security expert said. Like most in this secretive area, he wished to remain anonymous.
While the lion's share of cyber attacks are executed by amateurs, Western governments are also concerned about state-sponsored attacks, both on military and economic institutions.
Another cyber specialist said: 'The amateur hackers operating from their bedrooms are not much of a threat but we are seeing much more sophisticated attacks from organised crime networks and from state-sponsored actors.'
Five people were arrested last week on suspicion of carrying out cyber attacks against companies that had refused to do business with WikiLeaks.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Cyber raids hit British and US stock markets
LONDON: Stock exchanges in Britain and the United States have enlisted the help of the security services after finding out they were the victims of cyber attacks, The Times newspaper reported yesterday.
The London Stock Exchange has been working with the British government after discovering an attempted terrorist attack on its headquarters just behind St Paul's Cathedral last year.
US intelligence officials are also probing a cyber attack on an American exchange and have traced the hacker to Russia, according to The Times newspaper.
And there is suspicion in Britain and the US that this raid may have been an attempt to rock Western financial markets.
Such concerns expose a new problem in the battle to maintain national security: the protection of key economic assets.
Cyber raids in particular are a growing threat to companies and governments, with incidents up by more than 500 per cent in two years, The Times reported.
'Make no mistake, the United Kingdom's critical infrastructure is under attack. The threat is advanced and persistent,' a leading British cyber security expert said.
The London Stock Exchange, which trades about £5 trillion (S$10.2 trillion) of shares a day, declined to comment.
But the seriousness of the threat became clear 10 days ago when hackers raided the European Emissions Trading Scheme, stealing many millions of euros' worth of polluting rights. The incident has caused the carbon market to shut down. The knock-on effect has seen prices increase and the market remain closed while security is beefed up.
The security services are also examining unexplained stock-market shocks for evidence of cyber attacks, including two last year that wiped billions of pounds off the value of some of the largest companies in Britain and the US, The Times reported.
On May 6, markets in the US experienced a 'flash crash' that wiped an estimated US$866 billion (S$1.1 trillion) off leading companies including General Electric and Procter & Gamble.
In Britain, an incident on Aug 24 resulted in five companies including BT and Next experiencing wild fluctuations in their share prices.
Both cases have been attributed to technical faults and there is no official evidence of market manipulation. However, sources in the intelligence community say that those incidents are of the type that is now being examined on both sides of the Atlantic for evidence of cyber attacks, The Times reported.
Stock exchanges are essential for the health of the Western financial system but security experts have cautioned that any organisation holding valuable information could be a target for cyber criminals. 'If your organisation thinks it could become a victim of a cyber attack, it probably already is,' a cyber security expert said. Like most in this secretive area, he wished to remain anonymous.
While the lion's share of cyber attacks are executed by amateurs, Western governments are also concerned about state-sponsored attacks, both on military and economic institutions.
Another cyber specialist said: 'The amateur hackers operating from their bedrooms are not much of a threat but we are seeing much more sophisticated attacks from organised crime networks and from state-sponsored actors.'
Five people were arrested last week on suspicion of carrying out cyber attacks against companies that had refused to do business with WikiLeaks.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
