Nasdaq System Faces Malware Attack

The company that owns Nasdaq Stock market, recently informed that a malware attack was identified on its servers. The story was first posted on Wall Street Journal. The Nasdaq trading was not affected as the attackers’ target was information from the boards of directors of publicly traded companies.

Going into the details, few suspicious files were found on the U.S servers by the Nasdaq OMX group, who then confirmed a breach in their systems. The breach was found to be through their Web-based collaboration platform – Directors Desk, a system offered by NASDAQ with about 10,000 users worldwide and is operated separately from Nasdaq’s trading platform.

The FBI and DOJ, together are investigating the issue for over a year to find out on how the malicious files were stored inside Directors Desk system. The intent of the hackers was unknown but as per the reports, the program allowed the designers of the software to see what items and messages were being shared via the Directors Desk platform. According to Directors Desk’s website, the application is used by 10,000 directors at Fortune 500 sized companies. Not surprising, on why the system was targeted.

On a side note, the website of the Directors Desk claims to have its security standards complying with ISO27001.