Dow Jones denies it was hacked for trading tips

Russian hackers penetrated servers at Dow Jones & Co.to steal information to make trades on, Bloomberg reported Friday. Bloomberg reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission have been leading an investigation into the hack for at least a year now and it sounds like a very serious breach. “We are looking into whether there is any truth whatsoever to this report by a competitor news organization”, Dow Jones says in a statement released to CNBC.

While an investigation into the cyber security situation at Dow Jones has been going on for a tear or so, the Secret Service as well as the SEC and the FBI have also joined in the investigation to the theft of insider information. Dow Jones admitted to another cybersecurity breach last week in which hackers tried to get contact and payment information from around 3,500 customers. It has been reported by Bloomberg, an others, that the hackers stole insider trading information that they could put to use immediately. Of the sought data was reportedly news articles in the pipeline for publication. Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, the hackers were reportedly seeking information to trade on prior to its release to the public.

Information embargoed by companies and the government for release at a later time could be valuable to traders looking to gain an edge over other market participants, as could stories being prepared on topics like mergers and acquisitions that move stock prices. The company said it had no direct evidence that information was stolen.

Earlier this year, US authorities accused several individuals of hacking into the servers of news wire companies over a five-year period.