IMF Hit by Cyber Attack

The International Monetary Fund was hit last week by what they call a more significant and sophisticated attack than previous ones. A spokesperson said the attack is under investigation and the fund was “Fully Functional”. The IMF is a company that collects information on the finances of it’s 187 member nations.

Tom Kellermann, a former cybersecurity specialist at the World Bank who has been tracking the incident, told the “Wall Street Journal” that the infiltration involved significant reconnaissance before the actual attack and code written specifically to penetrate the IMF.

“This isn’t malware you’ve seen before,” he said. It was much more difficult to detect and the concern was hackers intended to gather information that could have moved markets. He added that attackers appeared to have broad access giving them sight of IMF plans relating to bailing out the economies of countries.

Mohan Koo, a cyber security specialist who is managing director of Dtex Systems (UK) said that a recent spate of attacks on large global organisations showed that hacking was carefully planned rather than opportunistic.

“Perhaps most frightening of all is the fact that these type of attacks could quite easily be directed towards Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) organisations, for example energy and water, where the impact of such a breach would have severe, immediate and potentially life-threatening consequences for everyday citizens.”

Last week, Leon Panetta, the CIA director, told Congress on June 9 that the United States faced the “real possibility” of a devastating cyber attack on the electricity grid, security, financial and governmental systems.

Source:  telegraph.co.uk

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