ION has experienced a cyber attack that disrupted servers associated with cleared derivatives, leading to trade reporting and matching issues for brokers and competing processing services.
The attack impacted 42 of ION’s clients and was carried out by the Russian ransomware group Lockbit, as confirmed by a spokesperson to Bloomberg.
In a statement on its website, ION stated: “ION Cleared Derivatives, a division of ION Markets, experienced a cybersecurity event beginning on January 31, 2023, which has affected certain services. The incident is contained to a specific environment, all affected servers are disconnected, and remediation of services is ongoing.”
Some brokers have turned to manual workarounds to navigate the situation, which could affect margin calls, portfolio valuations, and regulatory reporting of large market positions.