Financial data group Ion Markets has suffered a cyber attack that has affected parts of the vital financial plumbing that underlies the vast derivatives trading industry.
The Dublin-based company said its cleared derivatives unit was hit by a “cyber security event” on Tuesday. It said the incident was “contained to a specific environment, all the affected servers are disconnected, and remediation of services is ongoing”.
The cyber attack at Ion affected derivatives that trade on exchanges, according to the Futures Industry Association, which said on Wednesday it was working with clearing houses, trading platforms and regulators to assess the extent of the impact on trading, processing and clearing. Last year, volume in exchange traded derivatives reached 83.9bn contracts, according to FIA data.
The troubles at Ion come a week after a glitch at the New York Stock Exchange, triggered by an internal error, caused market chaos and led to thousands of trades being cancelled.
The cyber attack at Ion marks the latest information security incident this year. Earlier this week, sportswear retailer JD Sports said it was the victim of a cyber attack that exposed the data of 10mn customers, while media group the Guardian said a recent hack had exposed employees’ sensitive information, including salaries and passport details.
Ion was founded in 1999 and its technology is used by banks, central banks and corporations for electronic trading.
More to follow . . .
Source: Financial Times
