A Matter Of Time

June 12th, 2011

It was reported yesterday the the IMF was the target of a cyber attack which constituted a "very major breach." It would seem that the attack came from inside the headquarters of the organization over a period of months and is alleged to have been orchestrated at the behest of an as yet unidentified "nation state." From the wikileaks phenomena to Anonymous to the recent attacks against the Sony Gaming Network, it feels as if we are firmly within an era of new vulnerabilities. 

From the BBC:
"A cyber security expert told Reuters the infiltration had been a targeted attack, which installed software designed to give a nation state a "digital insider presence" at the IMF.

"The code was developed and released for this purpose," said Tom Kellerman, who has worked for the Fund.

Bloomberg quoted an unnamed security expert as saying the hackers were connected to a foreign government - however such attacks are very difficult to trace. The World Bank said it briefly cut its network connection with the Fund out "an abundance of caution".

"The World Bank Group, like any other large organisation, is increasingly aware of potential threats to the security of our information system and we are constantly working to improve our defences," said spokesman Rich Mills."

I suspect that it's only a matter of time before an intrusion of this kind actually is a game changer for the world economy.