Mouse Jiggling and Insider Trading in the Remote Work Era

Plus, Buy Now Pay Later has some trust issues.

Number of the Week: $27 trillion (explanation below)

Mouse Jiggling and Insider Trading in the Remote Work Era

One of the stranger technological developments that surfaced during the COVID lockdown is the “mouse jiggler,” a fairly simple device designed to mislead an employer. Many corporate systems will automatically log off an employee after a given period of keyboard inactivity; the jiggler makes it look like an employee working remotely is still at her station when in fact she’s taking a lunch or bathroom break.

That tech oddity is at the heart of an insider trading case filed this week against a stockbroker and the chief compliance officer of a major international fintech company. On June 29, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Jordan Meadow and Steven Teixeira with insider trading on several companies, asserting that the 32-year-old Teixeira stole information from his girlfriend’s laptop and used it to enrich himself and at least one friend. Teixeira pled guilty to federal charges and appears to be cooperating with the US Justice Department.