Cyber Ring Corporate Secrets - Confidential data belonging to dozens of publicly held companies may have been threatened, according to cyber security researchers, who discovered the activities of an espionage ring.

Cyber security firm FireEye Inc, who discovered the cyber ring corporate secrets leak, said the espionage group targeted and stole confidential information in order to game the stock market. On Monday, FireEye announced their findings about the activities of the group, who have attacked over 100 firms since the middle of last year.

Reports indicate that the cyber ring stole corporate secrets from several companies across different sectors. The list includes investment banks, corporate advisors, attorneys, and investor relations firms. Although FireEye has refused to disclose the names of the firms affected in the cyber ring corporate secrets leak, they revealed that pharmaceutical and healthcare companies were the most targeted.

According to FireEye Threat Intelligence Manager Jen Weedon, it is unclear if the hackers have traded successfully on the stock exchange based on the stolen information. Weedon said the cyber espionage ring seems to target individuals in positions that provide them access to confidential data, which could be used to rake in profits before the information is made public.

"They are pursuing sensitive information that would give them privileged insight into stock market dynamics," Weedon said. The cyber ring corporate secrets leak reportedly included drafts of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission findings, discussions of legal cases, documents on merger activity, medical research results and board planning documents.

Reports indicate that most of the victims of the cyber ring corporate secrets theft are in the United States. These corporations, who trade on the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ, were hacked into after their e-mail passwords were stolen.

The cyber ring corporate theft has raised a lot of concerns. But the group behind the crime have not been identified and located. FireEye says it is unable to pin point their location because they use an anonymisation web browser - Tor. Nonetheless, the researchers say based on the techniques and language used in their phishing emails, the hackers are most likely based in the country or Western Europe. Weedon says the group seems to have extensive knowledge of how investment banking works and is simply applying this knowledge.