From The Register:
Trio charged with $4m insider trading by hacking merger lawyers
US prosecutors have charged three Chinese men with making more than $4m (£3.2m) by allegedly trading on information obtained from hacking top merger and acquisition law firms.
The defendants are charged with targeting at least seven top international law firms with offices in New York, which advised companies on corporate mergers and acquisitions.
The men are alleged to have successfully obtained inside information from at least two firms by hacking their networks and servers. Once they obtained access to the law firms’ networks, they targeted email accounts of law firm partners who worked on high-profile M&A transactions.
That information was used to purchase stock in five companies before the public announcements were made. By purchasing shares before the public announcements were made, they made $4m.
In addition, the defendants are alleged to have repeatedly attempted unauthorized access to the networks and servers of five other firms. Between March and September 2015, they attempted to cause unauthorized access on more than 100,000 occasions.
Very clever - go to the source of the information. WHomever thought of this has a good mind albeit a criminal one.
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