Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and New Jersey assert that tens of millions of dollars were gained using insider information, and those responsible are likely to face securities fraud and other charges related to the scheme, the newspaper stated.
According to the sources, hackers infiltrated the networks of news-wire services responsible for issuing merger and acquisition press releases. Traders used the information to place early bids on stock shares.
Criminal activity online is broadly estimated to cost the United States $100 billion annually, more than any other country, with damage to business exceeding $100 million in recovery costs for large incidents, Intel Security, a corporate web site, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think-tank, said in a joint report released in June 2014.
