Cyber criminals have been discovered hacking more than 100 companies, investment advisers and law firms in search of market-moving information about deals, according to researchers at cyber security company FireEye.
The ‘FIN 4’ group uses targeted emails containing malicious links and downloads to get passwords for board level executives and corporate development teams, most of them US-based, as they conduct talks concerning mergers and acquisitions. Up to five organisations per deal have been hacked to build a picture of the chance of a deal’s success.
More than two-thirds of the targets are in the pharmaceutical industry, FireEye said, as hackers trawl private inboxes for information on drug trials and US Medicare reimbursement policies as well as deals, which could affect those companies’ stock prices.