There has been a lot in the news this past month about hackers targeting brokerage firms and stock market-related businesses.  Well, the newest article is the result of a $22 million loss from a brokerage firm.  More on this story below.

Two American brokerage houses have written off $22 million in fraud losses on their third quarter financials, citing spyware, stolen identities and hacker fraud as the cause.

In a recent Reuters news article, two online discount brokerages have admitted to major losses from hackers stealing their customer’s identities and then committing fraud. TD Ameritrade has said that it cost $4M in their third quarter from customers whose accounts had been hacked. E*Trade Financial also reported losses, but said that online identity theft by hackers cost them $18 million in the same period. Both brokerages offer guarantees to their customers to replay clients who’ve lost money through this kind of fraud.

The conclusion can be found here.

What would be suprising is to read the report on how the hackers were able to acquire this kind of money.  Granted, it stated that it was through spyware, hacking and identity theft but, it would be good to know the details of each.  What spyware did they use?  What avenues of communication did they use to steal the identities?  It’s important to understand details like these so that you can learn how hackers think and act, therefore allowing you to set up appropriate countermeasures.

Tags: Hackers