20110205

Nasdaq's network penetrated by hackers

Hackers penetrated Nasdaq's network - report

By Stacy Cowley, tech editor February 5, 2011: 11:05 AM ET


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Hackers have repeatedly made their way into the computer network that runs the Nasdaq Stock Market during the past year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

The part of the system that executes trades was not breached, sources told the newspaper. However, other parts of Nasdaq's infrastructure were accessed. Investigators from the Secret Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation are looking into the matter, the WSJ reported.

"So far, [the perpetrators] appear to have just been looking around," one unidentified person familiar with the situation told the newspaper.

A spokesman for the NASDAQ OMX Group (NDAQ) did not immediately return a call from CNNMoney seeking comment.

The WSJ said investigators have been unable to follow the trail back to any specific individual or country, and are unsure of whether they have plugged all of the network's potential security gaps.

Financial networks are lighting rods for hackers and employ some of the industry's most stringent security defenses. Mischief-makers occasionally break into or slow down the public websites of major financial institutions, but successful intrusions on their internal networks are rarer -- and rarely come to light when they happen.

Hackers publicly attacked Nasdaq's website in 1999, leaving a taunting message on the site. The attack was part of a spate of invasions on dozens of sites across the Web, exploiting a weakness in a commonly used Microsoft server system. Nasdaq's internal systems were unaffected by that breach. To top of page

First Published: February 5, 2011: 10:50 AM ET

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