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Want to cause panic in the markets
A group of Russian hackers tried to fake a news release claiming that the CEO of one of Russia's main oil producers had been arrested.
The hackers took over the website of Surgutneftegaz and placed the false news release detailing the arrest of Vladimir Bogdanov in a bid to make the company's share price drop. The release was sent out to the press via email from the company servers.
According to AFP a spokeswoman for the company Raisa Khodchenko said that the price fell by less than one percent during trading.
However there are some strange things about the story. Surgutneftegaz, which is privately owned, is considered to be a target for the state which is trying to gain a larger stake in the country's energy industry.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the CEO of what was then Russia's biggest oil producer, Yukos, was arrested in a fraud inquiry in 2003 and the company has since been dismembered.
Khodchenko said that it had been impossible for the company to publish an official denial on the web site because it had been 'blocked' from doing so.
More here.
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