US SEC hack is said likely to involve Eastern European criminals

FILE PHOTO: The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission hangs on the wall at SEC headquarters in Washington, DC, U.S. on June 24, 2011. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

The hack of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s corporate-filing database likely involved Eastern European criminals who may have been perusing market-moving information stored in the regulator’s network for months, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. 

It was during a routine maintenance check of the SEC’s Edgar system that the agency discovered how long intruders might have had access to company secrets, said one of the people who asked not to be named to discuss findings about the 2016 hack that haven’t been disclosed.