Yesterday, trading was halted on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange due to “technical issues” which took all computers offline.
This prompted numerous people to wonder if the NYSE trading halt due to a cyber attack.
Now one tweet is causing many to point to a culprit: Anonymous.
Wonder if tomorrow is going to be bad for Wall Street…. we can only hope.
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) July 8, 2015
Many, including the government is taking this seriously although the tweet could very well have been a prediction of a poor day in the markets due to the economic crisis’ in China and Europe.
Since the glitch, the NYSE as well has Homeland Security have come out and said that there are no signs that there was a malicious attack on the exchange, rather, the cause of the problem appears to have been an internal configuration issue. This uncommon occurrence of internal configuration issues has popped up in the past, most notably in 2012 and 2013. In 2012, the glitch resulted in errors surrounding the purchasing of equities. In 2013, a similar trading halt was the result of this type of internal glitch.
Despite these explanations and denial of a cyber attack, many remain skeptical especially on the heels of the United Airlines and Wall Street Journal glitches which both occurred on the same day. A coincidence this large, for many is too much to write off as a freak incident.
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The hacker group Anonymous tweeted late Tuesday evening that the following day might “be bad for Wall Street.” And just 12 hours later trading on the New York Stock Exchange ground to a halt due to a “technical issue.”
Coincidence? Yes, most likely. While the tweet from the hackers’ collective may seem prophetic at first glance, the New York Stock Exchange has stated firmly that the halt in trading was the result of an internal error and not a malicious attack — an assertion echoed by the federal government.
