Security News > 2021 > December > Russian hackers made millions by stealing SEC earning reports

A Russian national working for a cybersecurity company has been extradited to the U.S. where he is being charged for hacking into computer networks of two U.S.-based filing agents used by multiple companies to file quarterly and annual earnings through the Securities and Exchange Commissions system.

The defendants used compromised employee credentials to access the networks of the targeted filing agent and view or download data related to earnings of multiple companies, including SEC filings and press releases.

The intruders looked at documents from companies in various sectors of activity, among them being: IBM, Steel Dynamics, Avnet, Tesla, Box, Roku, Kohl's Corporation, Datadog, Altra Industrial Motion Corp, The Nielsen Company.

According to the company website, among M-13's customers are "The Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation, federal ministries and departments, regional state executive bodies."

The connection with the Russian government is deeper than this as Ermakov is a former officer in the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate, the country's military intelligence agency.

In about a year, one of the defendants, Irzak, traded ahead of public announcements of about 150 companies with a success rate of 66%. Between December 2019 and August 2020, one account used by Irzak generated profits of about $4.3 million from illegally trading ahead of earnings announcements of around 47 companies.

News URL

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/russian-hackers-made-millions-by-stealing-sec-earning-reports/