Authorities Investigating Computer Intrusions at NASDAQ

The US federal authorities are investigating multiple intrusions into NASDAQ's computer network that occurred last year, but the affected system is not related to the stock market.

The intruders' motives remain unclear and so far it only appears they looked around without advancing beyond compromised system.

The investigation is considered a high priority for the Secret Service and the FBI due to the importance of the NASDAQ Stock Exchange which is operated by the New York-based Nasdaq OMX Group.

The Wall Street Journal reports that, according to some sources close to the investigation, there are elements pointing to Russia as source of the attacks, but they don't consist clear evidence because hackers could have used compromised computers.

A spokesman for Nasdaq OMX told the New York Times that the stock trading platform was in no way affected by the breaches.

The attacks were limited to a Web-based application related to some other services the company is offering and which corporations used for information sharing.

Even so, the data stored via the Web application by the service's 5,000 customers doesn't appear to have been accessed by the hackers at any time.

The spokesperson also pointed out that Nasdaq OMX did not notify clients earlier because the Justice Department asked it to delay it.

Analysts believe that customers will now put pressure on the company to reveal the changes in security policies it made in response to the incident.

The NASDAQ Stock Market is the world's second-largest stock trading market after the New York Stock Exchange and handles an estimated 19% of the stock trading in the United States.

The White House has been informed about the NASDAQ security breaches, although this is not uncommon in such investigations.