The Russian Trading System (RTS) had to suspend all trading activities for one hour last Thursday (February 2) after being hit by a computer virus.
Larisa Gorbunova, the spokesperson for RTS, stated that all trading on the stock exchange had to stop, but the incident was quickly resolved afterward.
It is still unclear what type of virus caused the incident, but according to RTS, the virus originated from the Internet and targeted a computer connected to the trading system. “The infected computer immediately began generating an enormous volume of fake data packets, overwhelming RTS’s routers,” noted Dmitry Shatsky, vice president of RTS, in a recent statement.
“As a result, actual data packets—information being entered into the trading system—could not be processed. RTS experts implemented a series of measures to prevent similar virus attacks in the future.”
The infected computer, identified as the source of this attack, was immediately disconnected from the network. Experts proceeded to check and restart the entire network system, recommending that normal operations only resume after exactly one hour.
“The trading system of RTS did not suffer any significant damage. The downtime, as advised by experts, was necessary to prevent market exchange information from being compromised.”
Spokesperson Gorbunova also mentioned that RTS is conducting internal investigations but did not disclose whether police are involved in these investigations.
