By Daniel Yates
Last updated at 10:49 PM on 12th June 2011
Cyber attackers have targeted the International Monetary Fund in an apparent attempt to access globally-sensitive financial secrets.
The sophisticated operation is now being investigated by the FBI in the United States.
Nobody has revealed what exactly was accessed but the IMF – which manages financial crises around the world – is currently dealing with multi-billion pound bailouts for Greece and Portugal.
Under attack: The headquarters of the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC
The cyber attack took place over the course of seven months although it was before the organisation's former boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested for an alleged sexual assault on a hotel maid. Experts have said the attack on the IMF is of particular concern as it shares a computer network with the World Bank, which gives loans to developing nations.
It is not clear who or which country was behind the infiltration although officials from the IMF have said it was 'attacked by hackers believed to be connected to a foreign government, resulting in the loss of emails and other documents'.
Disarray: The IMF is still reeling from the loss of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who stepped down after being charged with sexual assault last month
According to the New York Times, the attack on the IMF would have probably been made using a technique known as 'spear phishing'. This is where an individual is tricked into clicking on a link in an email that runs a programme, allowing a hacker to access their computer.
'This was a very major breach,' one official told the paper, adding that one desktop computer has been found to be compromised.
Tom Kellerman, a cybersecurity expert who worked at both the World Bank and the IMF, added that the incident was a 'targeted attack' to install software that would give a nation state a 'digital insider presence' on the IMF's computer network.
'The code was developed and released for this purpose,' he said.
The IMF is the latest major organisation to come under a cyber attack.
Sony recently warned its 70million-strong Playstation network that it had been infiltrated by hackers.
Last week Citibank was forced to tell thousands of customers in the U.S. that their personal information had also been compromised.
Earlier this month Google accused the Chinese government of breaking into its Gmail system.
IMF spokesman David Hawley said: 'I can confirm that we are investigating an incident. I am not in a position to elaborate further on the extent of the cyber-security incident'.
A spokesman for the World Bank said it temporarily severed the link with the IMF's computer systems when it found out about the attack.
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- CHINESE ATTACHE, CHING-CHING, 13/6/2011 03:41
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