Since I have been wallowing in BBC election coverage, I only heard about that strange blip on Wall Street today. The New York Times says the ‘fat fingers’ scenario is almost certainly not the correct explanation. The Powers That Be are back to Square One in trying to find out what happened.
OK, so how about a terrorist or hacker attack? One that failed due to the Forces of Light, or perhaps a warning shot as part of a blackmail plot?
One of the strange things about a cyber-attack is that it is hard to know when you are being attacked, and by who.
It happened too fast. I don’t think anyone could have programmed such a thing and gotten it right. Of course there may have been previous failed attempts, but I still doubt it. Besides, if AQ could have done something like this, they would use the ability as a reliable long-term fund raiser, not an attack.
If it was deliberate, I think that it was an “insider” type thing where someone was planning on making a killing on the markey gyrations that would ensue.
Outsiders really can’t be expected to do anything like this right.