Londoner earned a reported $3 million from the efforts.
A British man has been charged with a executing hack-to-trade scheme which saw him generate millions of dollars in profits.
According to a statement from the US Justice Department, Robert Westbrook from London was arrested in the United Kingdom this week with a view towards extradition to the United States so that he can face an indictment charging him with securities fraud, wire fraud, and five counts of computer fraud.
He is charged with gaining unauthorised access to Office365 email accounts belonging to corporate executives employed by certain US-based companies to obtain non-public information, including information about impending earnings announcements, between January 2019 through May 2020.
He is also charged with using that information to purchase securities that he sold in short order for “substantial profits” after the material information became public.
The statement also said that Westbrook implemented auto-forwarding rules, designed to automatically forward content from the corporate executives’ compromised email accounts to email accounts controlled by Westbrook, on several occasions.
Written by
Dan Raywood
Senior Editor
SC Media UK
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with more than 20 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 16 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Conference, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and ESET Security Days.
Outside work, Dan enjoys supporting Tottenham Hotspur, managing mischievous cats, and sampling craft beers.
