The Latest in IT Security

Two weeks ago, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman expressed concerns about the anti-competitive practices of high-speed stock market trading firms, saying that such companies had valuable advantages that gave them a leg up on the rest of the market. Now The Wall Street Journal reports that the FBI is in the midst of an investigation into whether such high-speed trading firms have access to information that isnt available to other traders. An FBI spokesperson said the bureau launched its investigation — known as the High-Speed Trading Initiative — a year ago. The investigation is looking for violations of insider trading laws in a variety of trading activities, including whether high-speed traders have access to unfair advantages such as ultra-fast data-feeds, and if they are manipulating the market with floods of purchase and sales orders. There is a big concern that high frequency traders are getting material nonpublic information ahead of others and trading on it, an FBI spokesperson said.