Chinese Traders Charged With Insider Trading on Hacked Information (usatoday.com) 28
Chinese traders hacked into the computer systems of U.S. law firms that handle mergers, then used the data for insider trading that generated more than $4 million in illegal profits, federal prosecutors and regulators charged Tuesday. From a report on USA Today: The suspects in the alleged criminal marriage of cyber-hacking and securities fraud targeted at least seven law firms and other entities that handle the sensitive and often lucrative legal work of advising companies pursuing mergers and acquisitions, according to a 13-count superseding indictment unsealed in New York. Operating from April 2014 through late 2015, the alleged scheme ultimately gained access to secret information from two law firms about pending corporate deals, prosecutors charged. The suspects allegedly prized, targeted and gained access to the emails of attorneys directly involved in the deals. Prosecutors charged they exchanged a list of partners who performed such work at one of the firms before hacking into that firm's computer system.
Unlike "legal" insider trading (Score:4, Interesting)
Between CEOs and other top executives. They don't get in trouble.
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Worst example is god damn congresscritters, who have specifically exempted themselves.
Re:Unlike "legal" insider trading (Score:5, Interesting)
Worst example is god damn congresscritters, who have specifically exempted themselves.
That's no longer true under the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act ("STOCK" Act). It'll be a big headache for the incoming Trump administration.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STOCK_Act [wikipedia.org]
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This only works on extremely obvious insider trading. If you think that insider trading still isn't going on, I have a bridge to sell you.
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Their real screwup was not making 40 Billion instead of 4 million. The latter is so small as to be an accounting error (hence actionable in court); the former gets you a seat in the new Administration.
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umm 40 billion makes you king of the world.
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Or after hours trading
BS charges (Score:5, Interesting)
Insider trading is about using information others don't have equal access too. Any of us had the very same opportunity to hack these law firms and steal information on their clients.
Yes I am being sarcastic but only half so, on some level charging them with insider trading does seem a bit like piling on, we ought to be get them for any number of computer crimes and put them away for that.
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My suspicion is that they are piling the charges on in hopes of getting a conviction on at least some of them.
Don't put PCs with sensitive information (Score:2, Informative)
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you put the money on the android phone with the bank app, perfectly secure i think.
anybody wondering if china continues to crack USA? (Score:3, Informative)
I think that O has overall done a decent job, but gads, he assume the best from ppl.
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its either that China's security is so much better that 3 letters cant or... that they already do but are better at not getting caught. ;)
not sure why you got tagged as troll, maybe just that you assume the best from our govt
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Why can't the conservative assholes living on so-called food stamps get off their asses like these enterprising Chinese?
FTFY - P.S., Most folks on welfare are white and conservative.
Legal Tech Security (Score:4, Insightful)
I work in the legal technology field and this is a huge challenge for the industry. There have been warnings going around for the last year about hackers targeting law firms, and those warnings are likely a response to this.
Law firms are easy targets. Lawyers are full of hubris and not very computer savvy. Law firms are always trying to pinch pennies and IT budgets are often first on the chopping block. Because the firms do not truly understand computers or security, it is difficult to get them to spend the money necessary to secure their networks.
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Maybe the warnings should be FAXed to the law firms, then they'd take this seriously!