The IMF, the intergovernmental group that oversees the global financial system and brings together 187 member nations, has become the latest known target of a significant cyber attack.
A cyber security expert who has worked for both the Washington-headquartered IMF and the World Bank, its sister institution, said the intruders’ goal had been to install software that would give a nation state a “digital insider presence” on the IMF network.
Such a presence could yield a trove of non-public economic data used by the IMF to promote exchange rate stability, support balanced international trade and provide resources to remedy -members’ balance-of-payments crises.
“It was a targeted attack,” said Tom Kellerman, who has worked for both international financial institutions and who serves on the board of a group known as the International Cyber Security Protection Alliance.
The code used in the IMF incident was developed specifically for the attack on the institution, said Kellerman, formerly responsible for cyber-intelligence within the World Bank’s treasury team and now chief technology officer at AirPatrol, a cyber consultancy.
The attack on the IMF was the latest to become known in a rash of cyber break-ins that have targeted high-profile companies and -institutions, often to steal secrets with potentially far-reaching economic implications. The list of victims includes Lockheed Martin Corp, Sony Corp and Citigroup Inc.
IMF spokesman David Hawley said on Saturday the IMF was “fully functional,” despite the attack.
“I can confirm that we are investigating an incident,” he said, adding that he was not in a position to elaborate on the extent of it.
He declined to respond to requests for comment on Kellerman’s conclusion about the intruders’ goal.
The FBI is helping to investigate the attack on the IMF, according to a US Department of Defense spokeswoman.
A World Bank official said the bank had cut its network connection with the IMF out of “caution” even though the information shared on that link was “non sensitive.”
“The World Bank Group, like any other large organization, is increasingly aware of potential threats to the security of our information system and we are constantly working to improve our defenses,” bank spokesman Rich Mill said.
Jeff Moss, a self-described computer hacker and member of the US Department of Homeland Security Advisory Committee, said he believed the attack was conducted on behalf of a nation-state looking to either steal sensitive information about key IMF strategies or embarrass the organization to undermine its clout.
He said it could inspire attacks on other large institutions.
“If they can’t catch them, I’m afraid it might embolden others to try,” said Moss, who is chief security officer for Internet Corp for Assigned Names and Numbers.
However, cyber security experts cautioned it might be difficult for investigators to prove which nation was behind the attack.
“Even developing nations are able to leverage the Internet in order to change their standing and ability to influence,” said Jeffrey Carr, author of the book Inside Cyber Warfare.
“It’s something they never could have done before without gold or without military might,” Carr said.
Bloomberg News reported the attack occurred before the May 14 arrest of former IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual assault charges. It resulted in the loss of e-mails and other documents, Bloomberg said.
The New York Times cited -computer experts as saying the IMF’s board of directors was told of the attack on Wednesday, though the assault had lasted several months.
An internal IMF memo issued on Wednesday told employees to be on their guard.
“Last week we detected some suspicious file transfers and the subsequent investigation established that a Fund desktop computer had been compromised and used to access some Fund systems,” said an e-mail to employees from IMG chief information officer Jonathan Palmer.
Details of the e-mail were first reported by Bloomberg. Reuters’ sources confirmed the wording of the e-mail.
“At this point, we have no reason to believe that any personal information was sought for fraud purposes,” the message to employees said.
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