Bursa Says Trading Systems Secure Amid Account Breaches

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 It says the failed logins and unauthorised trades were confined to a few brokers.
Bursa Malaysia said there were no reports of unauthorised access and trades that occurred today as at the close of market. (Bernama pic)PETALING JAYA: Bursa Malaysia said today the security of its trading and clearing systems had not been compromised following reports of unauthorised access and trading activities for some trading accounts yesterday
In a statement, Bursa said the unauthorised access and trades were confined to a limited number of client trading accounts from a few brokers, and were not “widespread” as claimed by some news outlets.
It also said there were no reports of unauthorised access and trades that occurred today as at the close of market.
“Bursa’s priority is to keep the market accessible and orderly for all market participants as its continued operation is vital to sustain investor confidence over the longer term,” it said.
“Bursa and Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) continue to work closely with the relevant parties, to ensure that investor protection as well as a fair and orderly market are not compromised.”
Yesterday, several brokers reported to Bursa and the SC that they had detected unauthorised access and trading activities for some online trading accounts. A similar but smaller-scale incident occurred about six weeks ago.
Similar hacking incidents have been reported in Japan in recent months, where online brokerage accounts were compromised and used to manipulate penny stocks globally.
The hijacked accounts were used to purchase stocks at inflated prices, allowing those who had acquired positions earlier to sell at artificially high prices.
In a joint statement today, the capital market regulators said they were investigating the breaches and would implement further necessary measures.
They also advised brokers to immediately alert clients to reset their passwords and login credentials to enhance the security of their accounts. - FMT

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