Computer-assisted trading examined after Twitter hacking affects stocks

“The bogus tweet that sent markets plunging yesterday is raising serious questions about the vulnerability of social media and computer-assisted trading,” Michael Babad wrote for The Globe and Mail today. Babad continued, “U.S. authorities are investigating in the wake of the fake tweet from hackers using the Twitter account of The Associated Press yesterday afternoon. A group that calls itself the Syrian Electronic Army – it says it backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – claims it hacked the news agency and sent the tweet that falsely reported explosions at the White House had injured President Barack Obama. This group has previously hacked others, such as CBS News. While markets quickly recovered after the initial shock, U.S. stocks lost some $136-billion (U.S.), according to some calculations, commodities such as oil sank, and currencies like the Canadian dollar were briefly rattled.” Read the full article here. | Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS

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