Expert: Hacker attacks on bourse apps may become massive soon

MOSCOW, Dec 19 (PRIME) -- Many applications for stock exchange trading are vulnerable to hacker attacks, which could become massive in the next 12–18 months and can influence quotes of shares and currencies, information security company Positive Technologies said on Wednesday in a 2018–2019 cybersecurity research.

“Every third (trading) application allows other parties strike sale or purchase deals with shares on behalf of the user and without access to a personal account. Perpetrators can raise the price of securities they’re interested in via a massive purchase of stocks on other people’s accounts or cut the price by selling them actively,” the research read.

“Likewise, it is possible to manipulate foreign exchange rates if an attack engages big players or a great deal of users.”

Positive Technologies expects massive attacks on trading applications. “Due to poor security of trading applications and traditional interest of perpetrators to easy scaling and fast monetization, attacks on users of trading systems have all the chances to turn into a massive event in the next a year–a year and a half,” the experts said.

At present, a sixth part of studied applications make replacing quotes for some periods possible, the experts said, adding that in 61% of cases hackers can deal with assets of a user.

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