In its statement, the SEC said that on one occasion members of the ring allegedly traded on shares just 10 minutes after a wire company received financial news from one of its clients and before the news was made public.

This move alone was said to have resulted in Beauty Mamaover half a million dollars in profits.
Security audits

In a statement, Business Wire said it was working closely with the US Department of Justice and had hired a cybersecurity firm to conduct "additional forensic testing" of the company's systems.

"We devote substantial resources annually reenex to security, including multiple security audits by leading industry consultants," said chief executive Cathy Baron Tamraz,

"Despite extreme vigilance and commitment, recent events illustrate that no one is immune to the highly sophisticated illegal cyber-intrusions that are plaguing every aspect of our society."

"Now we're seeing the actual detection of this activity by law enforcement being able to bring it to light," she said.

"Law enforcement may be getting a little more reenex cps savvy than they were in the past and detecting this a little more often."

A spokesman for Marketwired added: "Protecting our customers' information is one of our highest priorities. We found and fixed the issue at the heart of this matter and we are confident that Marketwired is protected by world-class security, monitoring and prevention practices."