A ransomware attack on the US unit of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) disrupted some trading in the US Treasury market on Thursday, but market sources said the impact was limited.
In a statement, ICBC Financial Services said the ransomware attack disrupted some systems and that the company was investigating and “advancing recovery efforts.”
The bank assured that it had successfully cleared Wednesday’s treasury bond transactions and Thursday’s repurchase agreement financing transactions.
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“Overall, the event had a limited impact on the market,” said Scott Skrim, executive vice president of bonds and repo operations at broker-dealer Curvature Securities.
In ransomware attacks, hackers encrypt an organization’s systems and demand a ransom in exchange for unlocking them. It is unclear who was behind the attack.
Later on Thursday, Bloomberg reported that a prolific criminal gang known as Lockbit, linked to Russia, was suspected of orchestrating the attack, citing people familiar with the situation.
While ransomware attacks have risen sharply across various sectors in recent years, they have rarely disrupted a major financial market. Thursday’s incident is likely to raise questions about market participants’ cybersecurity controls and attract the attention of regulators.
Some market participants said trades made through ICBC, China’s largest commercial lender by assets, were not cleared due to the attack, affecting market liquidity. It was unclear whether that contributed to the weak results at Thursday’s 30-year bond auction.
Financial Times Earlier on Thursday, it was reported that the US Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) informed its members that ICBC 601398.SS suffered from ransomware that disrupted the US Treasury market, preventing it from conducting trades on behalf of other market players.
“We are aware of the cybersecurity issue and are in constant contact with major participants in the financial sector, as well as federal regulators. “We continue to monitor the situation,” a Treasury spokesman said when asked about the FT report. SIFMA declined to comment.
The Treasury market was performing normally on Thursday, according to LSEG data. (Reuters).
Source: Aristegui Noticias
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
