ML-Implode News - Hackers Breach Law Firms, Including Cravath and Weil Gotshal, Spurring Insider-Trading Investigations

Hackers broke into the computer networks at some of the country's most prestigious law firms, and federal investigators are exploring whether they stole confidential information for the purpose of insider trading, according to people familiar with the matter.
The firms include Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP and Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, which represent Wall Street banks and Fortune 500 companies in everything from lawsuits to multibillion-dollar merger negotiations. Other law firms also were breached, the people said, and hackers, in postings on the Internet, are threatening to attack more.
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The attacks on law firms appear to show thieves scouring the digital landscape for more sophisticated types of information. Law firms are attractive targets because they hold trade secrets and other sensitive information about corporate clients, including details about undisclosed mergers and acquisitions that could be stolen for insider trading.
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A case last year shows that hackers have gone after sensitive material to fuel illegal trading. In that case, brought by federal prosecutors in New Jersey and Brooklyn, N.Y., hackers in Ukraine allegedly breached newswires companies in the U.S. and stole news releases about corporate earnings before they became public. Stock traders then made lucrative bets based on the releases, prosecutors said. At least three of the defendants have pleaded guilty, and the case is pending.

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Hackers Breach Law Firms, Including Cravath and Weil Gotshal, Spurring Insider-Trading Investigations