CME discloses FBI probing July hacking attack CME Group disclosed on Friday that a system used to process big futures trades had been hacked in July, highlighting the vulnerability of the financial industry to cyber attacks. The CME said in a statement that its clearing and trading services had not been adversely affected by the intrusion, but that "certain customer information relating to the CME ClearPort platform was compromised." The ClearPort platform handles big energy and metals futures trades on behalf of customers including major oil companies, asset managers and hedge funds. "The incident is the subject of an ongoing federal criminal investigation and CME Group is co-operating with law enforcement in its investigation into this matter," the CME said. It declined to comment further. The intrusion on the biggest US futures exchange comes as financial industry executives are escalating their warnings about the threat of cyber attacks. A report released this year showed that more than half the world's exchanges had fought off incursions on their technological systems during the past 12 months, while securities groups and government agencies in the US and UK have been simulating cyber-attack scenarios in an effort to beef up their security systems. This week three key financial industry trade groups in the US - the American Bankers Association, the Financial Services Roundtable, and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association - sent a letter to members of Congress urging lawmakers to revive cybersecurity legislation that has stalled following revelations about the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance programme. "The cyber threat facing the financial services industry presents a clear and present danger not only to our members and their customers but to other critical infrastructure providers relied on by our industry and our economy," the letter said. The need for specific and co-ordinated action to protect our sector and the larger business community has been recognised at the highest level in our member firms. The groups are pressing for politicians to enact legislation that would make it easier for the US government and private US companies to share information before, during and after a cyber attack. At the moment, private companies could be found liable for sharing sensitive customer data with the authorities or if they act on a government warning of an forthcoming cyber threat. The CME said that it was in talks with impacted ClearPort customers. The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Chicago field office said: "We received the referral from CME Group and we're looking into the matter. It's an ongoing investigation. Additional reporting by Gregory Meyer and Arash Massoudi