So much for decoupling. Hackers managed to disrupt the U.S. Treasury market not by targeting a U.S. financial institution, but rather a Chinese mega-bank.
The financial services arm of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China announced Thursday that a ransomware attack disrupted its systems and that it prevented it from settling Treasury trades on behalf of other market participants. Transactions reportedly failed to clear and traders had to reroute their deals to other financial institutions. The bank was even forced to get settlement data from affected parties using a messenger and a portable USB drive, reports Bloomberg.
