EXCLUSIVE - Nasdaq hackers spied on directors - sources

BOSTON (Reuters) - Hackers who infiltrated the Nasdaq's computer systems installed malicious software on the exchange's computers that allowed them to spy on scores of directors of publicly held companies, according to two people familiar with an investigation into the matter.

The emerging details further highlight the increasing threat hackers pose to corporations with a rash of highly sophisticated attacks on high-profile companies and financial institutions -- from Google Inc to Citigroup Inc and the International Monetary Fund.

Nasdaq OMX Group disclosed in February that its system were hacked last year. That sparked an investigation involving the FBI and National Security Agency that is ongoing.

The attack on Nasdaq is an example of a "blended attack," where hackers infiltrate one target in order to facilitate access to another. In March hackers stole digital security keys from EMC Corp's RSA Security division that they later used to access the networks of defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp.

Nasdaq's trading platforms were not compromised, the exchange said when it disclosed the attack in February, although an Internet-based software program was attacked.

Nasdaq sells that program, called Directors Desk, to listed and private companies, which use it to let board members get access to and share documents and communicate with executives, among other things.

While the Directors Desk was infected, hackers were able to access confidential documents and communications of the directors who got access to the program, said Tom Kellermann, chief technology officer with security technology firm AirPatrol Corp.

Another person familiar with the investigation confirmed Kellermann's account of the matter, but declined to be identified by name because he is not authorized to discuss the matter.

It is unclear how long the Directors Desk application was infected before the exchange identified the breach, according to Kellermann and the other source.

Investigators have learned that hackers were able to spy on the computer systems of "scores" of directors who logged onto the application at Nasdaq's directorsdesk.com site before the malicious software was removed, potentially gathering sensitive corporate secrets, according to those sources.

"God knows exactly what they have done. The long term impact of such attack is still unknown," Kellermann said.

Kellermann is a well-regarded cyber security expert who has advised the Obama Administration on cyber security policy.

In February, Nasdaq said there was no evidence the hackers accessed or acquired customer information. A spokesman confirmed on Thursday that the investigation continues, but declined to give further details.

Army General Keith Alexander, director of the highly secretive National Security Agency and head of U.S. Cyber Command, told reporters earlier on Thursday that NSA and Nasdaq had reached conclusions about the origin of the attack.

He said the information was classified, but added that many areas were now seeing "advanced persistent threats," the cyber community's code phrase for attacks by nation states.

He said NSA was working with Nasdaq to help protect its network against further attacks.

"The key is, with attribution, you can show them how to defend against it," he said, after a speech at a security conference in Baltimore. "That's easy to do."

(Reporting by Jim Finkle. Additional reporting by Jonathan Spicer in New York and Andrea Shalal-Esa in Baltimore. Editing by Robert MacMillan and Tim Dobbyn)

View the original article here

EXCLUSIVE - Nasdaq hackers spied on company boards - sources

By Jim Finkle

REUTERS - Hackers who infiltrated the Nasdaq's computer systems last year installed malicious software that allowed them to spy on the directors of publicly held companies, according to two people familiar with an investigation into the matter.

The new details showed the cyber attack was more serious than previously thought, as Nasdaq OMX Group had said in February that there was no evidence the hackers accessed customer information.

It was not known what information the hackers might have stolen. The investigation into the attack, involving the FBI and National Security Agency, is ongoing.

"God knows exactly what they have done. The long term impact of such attack is still unknown," said Tom Kellermann, a well-known cyber security expert with years of experience protecting central banks and other high-profile financial institutions from attack.

The case is an example of a "blended attack," where elite hackers infiltrate one target to facilitate access to another. In March hackers stole digital security keys from EMC Corp's RSA Security division that they later used to breach the networks of defence contractor Lockheed Martin Corp.

Nasdaq had previously said that its trading platforms were not compromised by the hackers, but they attacked a Web-based software program called Directors Desk, used by corporate boards to share documents and communicate with executives, among other things.

By infecting Directors Desk, the hackers were able to access confidential documents and the communications of board directors, said Kellermann, chief technology officer at security technology firm AirPatrol Corp.

Investigators have learned that hackers were able to spy on "scores" of directors who logged onto directorsdesk.com before the malicious software was removed, said Kellermann and another person familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

It was still unclear how long Nasdaq's system was breached before the attack was discovered last October.

A Nasdaq spokesman confirmed the investigation into the attack continues, but declined to give further details.

NSA HELPS NASDAQ

Executive Assistant FBI Director Shawn Henry said the financial services sector was losing hundreds of millions of dollars to hackers every year, and the attacks were increasingly "destructive" in nature.

"We know adversaries have full unfettered access to certain networks. Once there they have the ability to destroy data," he told Reuters in a phone interview. "We see that as a credible threat to all sectors, but specifically the financial services sector." Henry declined to comment on the Nasdaq attack.

U.S. Army General Keith Alexander, head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, said the NSA was working with Nasdaq to help protect its network against further attacks.

Alexander told security experts at a Baltimore conference that the United States was shoring up its defences, but still had "tremendous vulnerabilities" to a growing number of increasingly destructive electronic attacks.

"Nation states, non-nation state actors and hacker groups are creating tools that are increasingly more persistent and threatening, and we have to be ready for that," he said.

Amid a spate of high-profile cyber crimes, the Obama administration wants Congress to pass comprehensive cyber-security legislation that would increase the government's ability to thwart the growing threat.

Alexander and other top officials held a classified meeting with lawmakers on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the issue, according to sources familiar with the meeting.

Nasdaq CEO Robert Greifeld said in July that the exchange is under constant attack, requiring it to spend nearly a billion dollars a year on information security.

"As we sit here, there are people trying to slam into our system every day," Greifeld said in the interview. "So we have to be ever vigilant against an ever-changing foe."

(Reporting by Jim Finkle. Additional reporting by Jonathan Spicer in New York, Andrea Shalal-Esa in Baltimore and Diane Bartz in Washington. Editing by Tim Dobbyn, Tiffany Wu, and Bob Burgdorfer)

View the original article here