Hacking charges show merger of finance and cybercrime

Industry observers say Tuesday's announcement of charges against nine people in the U.S. and Ukraine for allegedly making $100 million by hacking into business newswire services and using that information to make illegal stock trades highlights those security woes.

Scott Moritz, the head of the fraud risk management practice at Protiviti, a business consulting and internal audit firm, called the indictments a "watershed moment" for the convergence of financial crime and cybercrime, noting that hackers have typically been associated with the theft of credit card numbers and personal identification information such as Social Security numbers.

It's widely suspected that the hackers who breached Target Corp.'s computer systems during the 2013 holiday season and stole millions of customer credit and debit cards used the retailer's connection with a small Pittsburgh-area heating and refrigeration business as the back door to get in.