‘Global markets’ impacted by ransomware attack on financial software company

A ransomware attack on Dublin-based software company ION Group has impacted the trading of financial derivatives on international markets.

ION Group describes itself as enabling “financial institutions, central banks and corporations to digitize and automate their most business critical processes.”

A pop-up notice on its site on Wednesday warned that “a cybersecurity event” that struck on Tuesday has affected its cleared derivatives unit.

The ransomware attack was caused by the prolific Russia-based LockBit gang, according to ION correspondence cited by Bloomberg.

“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,” ION’s statement said.

The attack is “impacting the trading and clearing of exchange traded derivatives by ION customers across global markets,” according to the Futures Industry Association (FIA). 

As a result of the incident, post-trade processes, which are normally automated by ION Group’s software, are having to be completed manually, including extremely time-sensitive activities such as updating margin requirements for trades.

The FIA added it was “working with impacted members, including clearing firms and exchanges, as well as market regulators and others, to assess the extent of the impact on trading, processing, and clearing.”

The ransomware attack comes just weeks after LockBit disrupted the operations of the British postal and courier business Royal Mail.

The company’s ability to dispatch parcels and letters to international recipients ground to a halt on January 11 following what Royal Mail described as a “cyber incident.”

Although the incident has not been confirmed as a ransomware attack by Royal Mail itself, The Record has seen a copy of an extortion note sent to the company by the LockBit ransomware group.