Nasdaq OMX Group has revealed that it found "suspicious files" on its US computer servers, but denies that the access or acquisition of customer data by hackers or that its trading platforms were affected.
This event follows the recovering of US equity mutual funds inflow after years of outflows following the financial crisis and the debilitating experience of the "flash crash" last May.
Solaris Asset Management chief investment officer in New York Tim Ghriskey was quoted by Reuters as saying that there have been a number of events over the last few years that have damaged investor confidence and this could certainly be another one.
Reports have indicated that the timing of the attack is not right as a stocks rally from last year has started drawing retail investors back into equities and away from bond funds.
Nasdaq is worried about maintaining confidence that is key at a time when regulators are concerned about the stability of the electronic marketplace, despite knowing that the recent attack is unlikely to have an impact on the growing trend.
Investment firm LibertyView Capital Management president Rick Meckler said that Nasdaq needed to release more information about the security breach to gain the confidence of investors.
"Just entering a system is a lot different from using a system to profit from it; that distinction is yet to be made," Meckler said.
CBR has reported on other cyber security breaches, such as the recent Anonymous group hack of US security services firm HBGary Federal. The group posted an image on the webioste containing a message explaining their actions.
In another such event, the Italian government website was hacked by Anonymous on Sunday, announcing its distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) assaults and attributing them to the unstable political and economic situation in Italy.
