Hacker Reveals How Devastating A Cyberattack On The Stock Market Could Be
Of all the horrifying scenarios that
In the summer issue of hacker magazine 2600, pseudonymous writer "Eightkay" shows how such a scenario could pan out:
Now imagine this attack scenario. Agents of an enemy of the United States successfully break into the mainframes of a High Frequency Trading Company, Dark Pool Crossing Network, or Brokerage Company. They infect the system with rogue trading algorithms or change the code on currently deployed algorithms. In a single coordinated attack, they buy and sell millions of shares of a single company or multiple companies, causing trading to halt or decimating the value of a single stock. Multiply that by 100 stocks of the top Fortune 500 companies and we have market collapse. Trading for the day would halt and Uncalculated economic damage would be done.Hackers were able to "repeatedly [penetrate] the computer network" of the
"Cybercrime also appears to be increasing in terms of sophistication and complexity, widening the potential for infiltration and large-scale damage," the report read.
While there are safeguards such as market monitors and circuit breakers, "Eightkay" writes, "this attack could happen quickly, rapidly, and across multiple fronts" laying waste to investor confidence and damaging the economy. It's also worth noting that "Eightkay" doesn't advocate such an attack or show how it can be pulled of in his column. He's simply sounding the alarm bell.
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