Three Chinese men, Iat Hong, Bo Zheng and Chin Hung, are being charged with hacking into law firms in New York to obtain insider information which they used to amass $4 million.

The trio attempted to hack into five law firms and succeeded in breaching two. They then hacked into the emails to find the insider information which advised companies on corporate mergers and acquisitions.

With the insider information, the trio purchased stock in five companies before the public announcements which resulted in the profit of $4 million.

The FBI and the United States Attorney’s office were successful in arresting Hong in Hong Kong on Christmas Day.

Manhattan US attorney Preet Bharara said: "This case of cyber meets securities fraud should serve as a wake-up call for law firms around the world: you are and will be targets of cyber hacking, because you have information valuable to would-be criminals.”

FBI assistant director-in-charge William Sweeney said: “The subjects charged in this case allegedly stole nonpublic information through unauthorized access to law firms’ computers, and used the information for their own personal gain.

"The FBI works around the clock to keep these types of alleged securities fraudsters and cyber criminals from trading on stolen information, potentially manipulating the market at the cost of legitimate investors, and harm to corporations.”

Source: The Register