Cyberattack Disrupts Wall Street, Knocks Systems Offline
EquiLend, a prominent Wall Street firm processing trillions of dollars in securities transactions monthly, has fallen victim to a cyberattack, disrupting some of its systems, the company confirmed on Wednesday.
Owned by major financial institutions including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, BlackRock, and Bank of America, EquiLend issued a statement to CNN, revealing that it may take “several days” before services are fully restored in the aftermath of the attack.
Christopher Gohlke, spokesperson for EquiLend, stated that on Monday, the company detected a technical issue leading to the offline status of certain systems. EquiLend is actively collaborating with external cybersecurity firms and advisors to investigate the incident and work towards the complete restoration of services.
“We immediately launched an investigation and have identified a cyber security incident involving unauthorized access to our systems,” said Gohlke. “We took immediate steps to secure our systems and are working methodically to restore the involved services as quickly as possible.”
EquiLend, known for its NGT trading platform, plays a crucial role in the securities-lending industry. Hedge funds and other investors heavily rely on securities lending firms like EquiLend to facilitate short bets against the value of securities.
While the impact on financial market players has been described as “limited,” according to a spokesperson for FS-ISAC (Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center), specific automated securities lending services were affected, prompting firms to adapt by resorting to manual processes.
“The sector is monitoring for any ongoing issues,” mentioned the FS-ISAC spokesperson, “and coordinating through our established incident response processes and resilience mechanisms to ensure firms have the information they need to mitigate potential impacts.”
U.S. officials are closely monitoring the situation, with Treasury spokesperson Christopher Hayden stating, “Treasury has been in close contact with key financial sector and regulatory leadership which are collectively monitoring the incident.”
This cyber incident comes on the heels of EquiLend’s recent announcement of a deal to sell a majority stake in itself to private-equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, with the transaction amount undisclosed. The ongoing investigation and restoration efforts will be crucial for EquiLend to regain full functionality and ensure the stability of its services in the financial landscape.
