020606

Trading was suspended for one hour at the Russian Trading Systems (RTS) Stock Exchange on Thursday afternoon, Feb. 2, after a virus attack, an official for the RTS exchange tells DWT. The virus halted trading on the RTS FORTS futures market, classic market and the stock exchange. One computer was infected late Thursday afternoon, according to an official statement, resulting in data processing being paralyzed. IT specialists had to localize the virus and switch off the infected computer. RTS vice president Dmitry Shatskoi is quoted in the statement as saying that the virus entered the system via a computer used to test new software. This computer was connected to the Internet. "The infected computer began generating parasitic traffic in very large quantities that led to an overload of the RTS network's base routers," according to Shatskoi in the prepared statement. "As a result, the useful traffic—the data entering the system and leaving it—was not processed." Trading resumed without any loss in data, according to RTS officials. At press time, RTS public relations spokespersons repeatedly declined to comment further on the matter until Monday, Feb. 6.

The Osaka Stock Exchange, Japan's second-largest trading exchange, reported delays Thursday, Feb. 2, in providing stock prices, after a large number of orders arrived immediately before the end of the trading session. According to a spokesperson from the Osaka Stock Exchange, the distribution of the closing prices of 67 stocks and funds from the electronic information system was delayed, forcing the exchange to fax the data to users. The exchange spokesperson says the system was restored approximately four hours later, following the close of trading, at which point the data was delivered to users. The spokesperson declines to give further details beyond saying that necessary setting changes were made, and trading was conducted normally on the exchange the following business day.

Deutsche Bank is planning to monitor its U.K. staff e-mail messages to prevent market abuse in its investment banking division, according to published reports confirmed late last week by DWT. Deutsche Bank took this decision to reduce the risk of breaches and to monitor its risk, according to Deutsche Bank officials. The bank is already looking at different vendors and is planning to study proposals in the next couple of months. The bank would check for keywords in e-mails and alert the compliance division to investigate, if necessary. A spokesperson for Deutsche Bank confirms the reports but declines to comment further.