News
Prolexic Warns of Cyber Attackers Using DDoS Attacks to Influence Stock Prices and Limit Trading
February 2014 by Marc Jacob
Prolexic Technologies, shared an analysis of nearly a dozen global DDoS attacks that indicates cyber attackers are using DDoS attacks in an attempt to influence market values and interfere with exchange platforms. The Prolexic Security and Engineering Team (PLXsert) details the findings in a white paper, DDoS Attacks Against Global Markets, which was published today and can be downloaded at www.prolexic.com/ddos-markets.
“Typically, DDoS attacks are launched to fuel public discourse, or for revenge, extortion and blackmail – but that is changing,” said Stuart Scholly, president of Prolexic. “During the past few years in particular, DDoS attack campaigns have posed a significant threat to the financial services industry, as well as other publicly traded businesses and trading platforms. As part of our DDoS attack forensics, we have uncovered a disturbing trend: Many of these malicious attacks appear to be intent on lowering the target’s stock price or currency values, or even temporarily preventing trades from taking place.”
The public image of a global business or financial service is closely associated with its cyber presence. Taking a publicly traded firm or exchange platform offline – and spreading rumors that raise questions about its ability to conduct business online – can create false or misleading appearances. This is a hallmark of market manipulation. Overall, PLXsert found a direct relationship between DDoS cyber-attacks and a temporary change in the valuation of a company.
“A few specific cyber-terrorist groups are responsible for most of these attacks. So far they have not been successful in bringing down an entire major marketplace,” explained Scholly. “But DDoS attacks keep getting bigger, stronger, longer and more sophisticated, so we cannot be complacent. What’s more, the risk goes beyond the actual outage – social media chatter and media coverage can amplify the perceived effect, disruption and damage caused by a cyber-attack campaign.”
The white paper reviews nearly a dozen DDoS attacks and the resulting market movements and provides insight into the malicious actor groups responsible for most of the attacks.
