(Image Source:  Financial Services Technology)

BY ADNAN S. KHAN

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One of the largest stock markets in the U.S. has been hacked. The Wall Street Journal broke the story- saying the computer network belonging to the company which runs Nasdaq Stock Market operations was hacked multiple times in the past year.

“The exchange's trading platform - the part of the system that executes trades - wasn't compromised ... However, it couldn’t be determined which other parts of Nasdaq’s computer network were accessed.”

Fox News reports the hackers were able to reach confidential documents, which can compromise the integrity of the exchange. But they say the good news is, your information is probably safe.

“They can be used for insider trading. We’re told. Nasdaq released a statement after The Wall Street Journal reported the attack. It says though they did not compromise trading systems or accessed customers personal data.”

The Web site Death And Taxes says it’s obvious the hack is a significant accomplishment when both the Secret Service and the FBI get involved. The site speculates about the hackers’ motives.

“…it might just be hackers snooping around, looking for weaknesses they can exploit for a full-scale attack. Or perhaps it is a group of hackers who are looking to breach security in order to report it to the security firm and get a nice payment for their efforts.”

According to The New York Times-  Nasdaq oversees around 17 percent of U.S. stock trades. The Times says a successful hack into the internal system would be bad- real bad.

“If there were evidence that hackers could breach the inner trading systems, it could cause jitters among the companies listed on the exchange and the traders and investors who buy and sell millions of shares each day.”

The Wall Street Journal further reports one of the sources of the hack was from Russia, although it is not known whether it was the Russian government or someone simply using a computer in Russia.

Boise radio station KBOI says the Nasdaq is a hot target for foreign forces.

“Now that unauthorized eyes have peered at the exchange, there is the threat that high-security government information could possibly be accessed.”

MarketWatch reports the Nasdaq will continue trade as normal regardless of the security breach.
 

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