Hacker hoaxer splats paintball firm

A false financial statement issued by a hacker who broke into the corporate systems of a paintball firm resulted in the suspension of its shares for two hours last night.

"Hundreds, if not thousands" of emails containing phoney financial information about Brass Eagle were then sent out, Reuter reports. It seems the attacker broke into the firm's Web site and obtained its email mailing list and subsequently targeted these people with faked messages.

Brass Eagle CFO J.R. Brian Hanna believes the attacker was not motivated by the desire to make a quick buck by manipulating its stock price.

"On the surface it appears to be a hoax," he told Reuters.

Brass Eagle has responded to the phoney email by issuing a statement to Nasdaq reaffirming its previous financial guidance. The firm has also called on the FBI to investigate the matter.

It's not the first time 'hacker' activity has affected the trading in a firm's stocks.

Earlier this month, 24 year-old day trader Mark Jakob was sentenced to 44 months in jail for faking a press release from storage firm Emulex falsely suggesting it had become the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission probe.

In July, JDS Uniphase halted trading in its stocks amid fears that a hacker had managed to gain access to a file on its web site that gave information on the fibre optic firm's financial results ahead of their intended release. ®

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Hacker attack forces Nasdaq to halt trading in paintball firm

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