Hong Kong Stock Exchange Hacked, Halts Trading on Some Stocks

On Wednesday the Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd., operator of one of the largest stock exchanges in the world, halted trading for several companies after its website suffered a malicious attack. The attack is currently under investigation, and though trading has resumed on all companies the exact motive behind the attack is yet unknown.

Trading was halted on five companies, all of which were publishing information on the HKE corporate filings website. When higher than normal traffic was reported on the site, the operators opted to halt trading citing concern that traders would not have access to timely or reliable information about the companies. In the meantime, HKE went old-school Internet and set up on an online bulletin-board system for posting such information.

Concerns have risen about cyber attacks across the world, and China is hardly immune. The country claimed to be victim to nearly 500,000 malicious attacks last year alone, reminding the world that anyone and everyone is a possible target.

(via Bloomberg)

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Max Eddy