ASIC said that “during regular surveillance” of the Australian financial markets, it discovered that several online stockbroking firms that had been hacked into and that there had been unauthorized trading of accounts.
The commission recommended that online traders ensure their computer virus software is up-to-date, change their password, and check their transaction history. It said it is working with other authorities to identify the source of the breach.
Greg Yanco, the regulator's head of market supervision, said it appears that one of the hackers is buying shares at the normal price and then putting them up for sale at an inflated price. The hacked accounts are then used to buy those overpriced shares, according to a report by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News. Yanco estimated the total losses at around A$200,000.
Doug Clark, policy executive with the Stockbrockers Association of Australia, said the breach is “of concern to the industry because it involves not just access to client information, but also trading directly on client accounts.” He told ABC News that the targeted accounts had been dormant for some time and were apparently accessed to carry out the bogus trading.