Over $100 Million Made from Hacking 150k Press Releases
posted Sunday Aug 16, 2015 by Nicholas DiMeo
Classify this one as next-level insider trading. The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a statement that says hackers out of the Ukraine hacked databases containing press releases that weren't released yet in order to use the information to make over $100 million on the stock market.
The SEC says that the hackers would secretly access the press releases and share the info they found with stock traders across the globe for a cut of their earnings on said information. The US government has arrested five suspects so far and has filed charges on 32 other people based on these findings.
Two particular gentlemen, Ivan Turchynov and Oleksandr Ieremenko, were allegedly behind the entire operation, according to the SEC. The agency says that these two worked their way into Marketwired, PR Newswire and Business Wire, three of the biggest news wire services. The hackers would then grab embargoed press releases and send them to businesses and investors. The SEC says over 150,000 pressers were stolen but would not say how long this was going on for.
The thieves aren't the only ones involved in this elaborate setup. Traders were actually sending the men lists of companies and press releases to go after, but only after they were sold on the idea. There was even a video made about how the traders could get access to the information.
SEC's Director for the Division of Enforcement, Andrew Ceresney, said,
This cyber hacking scheme is one of the most intricate and sophisticated trading rings that we have ever seen, spanning the globe and involving dozens of individuals and entities.
In all, 14 businesses and 16 stock investors have had civil charges filed against them. Seven other people, along with Ieremenko and Turchynov are looking at criminal charges. The SEC said they have already been granted the order to freeze any and all bank accounts and assets related to the crime.
