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NEW YORK: The International Monetary Fund, already reeling from last month's arrest of its former leader, is investigating an attack on its computer system.
IMF spokesman David Hawley said the organisation is fully functional. He declined to provide further details on what he termed an "IT incident," including its scope or nature and whether any sensitive data were taken.
The IMF has confidential information on countries in financial trouble.
The New York Times cited unnamed IMF officials as saying the attack was sophisticated and serious.
Concerns about the IMF attack were great enough that the World Bank cut a computer link that allows the two organisations to share non-sensitive information, according to a bank official.
The move was taken out of "an abundance of caution," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the security issues around the incident.
It's not clear if hackers were targeting the IMF. Hackers sometimes try to distribute malicious software code widely and see which organisations it can infect.
But they can also choose targets. Using a technique called "spear phishing," for instance, they can trick employees of a specific organisation into clicking a link that then gives hackers access to its computer systems.
Dave Jevans, chairman of computer security firm IronKey Inc, said he's concerned by an uptick in "hacktivism," where groups target organisations for political purposes.
It's possible the IMF was the victim of such hacktivism. However, one official cited by the Times said the attack occurred over the last several months.
The IMF attack follows a string of major data breaches.
In recent months, hackers have penetrated 100 million Sony PlayStation accounts, the networks of Lockheed Martin and the customer e-mail databases of a company that does marketing for Best Buy and Target stores.
Google has accused Chinese hackers of targeting the Gmail accounts of US Government officials, while about 200,000 Citibank credit card customers in North America had their names, account numbers and e-mail addresses stolen.
The IMF is already facing a public-relations headache after the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned as IMF chief last month after being accused of sexually assaulting a maid in a New York hotel. - AP
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IMF spokesman David Hawley said the organisation is fully functional. He declined to provide further details on what he termed an "IT incident," including its scope or nature and whether any sensitive data were taken.
The IMF has confidential information on countries in financial trouble.
The New York Times cited unnamed IMF officials as saying the attack was sophisticated and serious.
Concerns about the IMF attack were great enough that the World Bank cut a computer link that allows the two organisations to share non-sensitive information, according to a bank official.
The move was taken out of "an abundance of caution," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the security issues around the incident.
It's not clear if hackers were targeting the IMF. Hackers sometimes try to distribute malicious software code widely and see which organisations it can infect.
But they can also choose targets. Using a technique called "spear phishing," for instance, they can trick employees of a specific organisation into clicking a link that then gives hackers access to its computer systems.
Dave Jevans, chairman of computer security firm IronKey Inc, said he's concerned by an uptick in "hacktivism," where groups target organisations for political purposes.
It's possible the IMF was the victim of such hacktivism. However, one official cited by the Times said the attack occurred over the last several months.
The IMF attack follows a string of major data breaches.
In recent months, hackers have penetrated 100 million Sony PlayStation accounts, the networks of Lockheed Martin and the customer e-mail databases of a company that does marketing for Best Buy and Target stores.
Google has accused Chinese hackers of targeting the Gmail accounts of US Government officials, while about 200,000 Citibank credit card customers in North America had their names, account numbers and e-mail addresses stolen.
The IMF is already facing a public-relations headache after the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned as IMF chief last month after being accused of sexually assaulting a maid in a New York hotel. - AP
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