Trading in the City of London is suffering ongoing disruption following a ‘cybersecurity event’ targeting trading software provider Ion Group.

The company has released a brief statement saying that some services have been disrupted.

It added: ““The incident is contained to a specific environment, all the affected servers are disconnected and remediation of services is ongoing. Further updates will be posted when available.”

The London-based company plays an integral role in software that underpins the trading of shares, debt and derivatives in the Square Mile and around the world.

Ion said 42 clients have been affected by the attack as it faces disruption in its cleared derivatives division.

One senior City banker described the attack as a “major incident” that “would take out most of the City if it were to escalate”.

It comes weeks after Lockbit caused havoc to international parcel and letter deliveries following an attack on the Royal Mail. 

In response to the news, Julia O’Toole, CEO of MyCena Security Solutions, commented: “LockBit strikes again, and this time its investors and traders that are feeling the impact. This incident highlights how one broken link in a supply chain can have a cascading effect bringing down multiple other organisations in its path.

“With LockBit being the culprit behind the attack, it will be interesting to see how ION responds and if they have the mitigations in place to bring systems back online without having to pay the ransom. However, whichever path they take, these disruptions are likely to go on for a long time.

Recommended

• CyberScotland Week to Highlight Growing Threat of Cyber-crime
• Netflix for £9? Your Streaming Services on the Dark Web
• CodeClan Partners with Eden Scott in Bid to Close Skills Gap

“Ransomware is undoubtedly the most destructive cyber threat organisations are faced with today, and as criminals continue to earn millions through attacks, the probability of organisations becoming a victim also increases. Organisations must therefore start thinking about their ransomware defences now.

 “With stolen employee credentials being the most common way for criminals to infiltrate corporate networks and install ransomware, it is wise to start with securing these assets first.

 “When it comes to defence tools, access segmentation and encryption solutions provide the greatest protection. The access segmentation stops data breaches from propagating through networks after an initial attack and morphing into ransomware attacks, while access encryption helps to prevent phishing attacks on employees, since user access credentials are encrypted, hence people can’t unwittingly give them away when they are targeted with these scams.”

Get all the latest news from DIGIT direct to your inbox

Our newsletter covers the latest technology and IT news from Scotland and beyond, as well as in-depth features and exclusive interviews with leading figures and rising stars.

To subscribe, click here.