IMF says February cyberattack involved compromise of 11 email accounts

Jason Macuray
A cyberattack in February led to the compromise of 11 email accounts at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the organization said on Friday.

A cyberattack in February led to the compromise of 11 email accounts at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the organization said on Friday. 

In a brief statement, the IMF said the cyber incident was detected on February 16. 

“A subsequent investigation, with the assistance of independent cybersecurity experts, determined the nature of the breach, and remediation actions were taken. The investigation determined that eleven (11) IMF email accounts were compromised,” the organization said. 

“The impacted email accounts were re-secured. We have no indication of further compromise beyond these email accounts at this point in time. The investigation into this incident is continuing.”

Reuters reported that none of the email accounts accessed were used by senior leaders of the organization. 

A spokesperson told Recorded Future News: “For security reasons, we cannot disclose further details. We cannot confirm attribution.”

The IMF — a lender made up of 190 member countries — is an international financial institution designed to stabilize economies by providing billions in funding to governments around the world each year.

The organization last dealt with a cybersecurity incident in 2011, when an alleged nation-state actor breached the organization’s systems and spent months rifling through files, according to The New York Times.  

The attack was so significant at the time that the IMF cut all digital connections to the World Bank in an effort to contain the damage. The incident was initially discovered when IT workers found strange file transfers occurring from one computer at the IMF. Emails and other documents were taken, sources told several news outlets at the time.

News BriefsNewsGovernmentCybercrime
Get more insights with the

Recorded Future

Intelligence Cloud.

Learn more.

No previous article

No new articles

Jonathan Greig

is a Breaking News Reporter at Recorded Future News. Jonathan has worked across the globe as a journalist since 2014. Before moving back to New York City, he worked for news outlets in South Africa, Jordan and Cambodia. He previously covered cybersecurity at ZDNet and TechRepublic.

 

Total
0
Shares
Previous Post

Russia targets hundreds of Americans with new sanctions, including cyber journalists

Next Post

Moldovan national sentenced in E-Root cybercrime marketplace case

Related Posts

Product Review: How Reco Discovers Shadow AI in SaaS

As SaaS providers race to integrate AI into their product offerings to stay competitive and relevant, a new challenge has emerged in the world of AI: shadow AI.  Shadow AI refers to the unauthorized use of AI tools and copilots at organizations. For example, a developer using ChatGPT to assist with writing code, a salesperson downloading an AI-powered meeting transcription tool, or a
Avatar
Read More

Juniper Warns of Mirai Botnet Targeting SSR Devices with Default Passwords

Juniper Networks is warning that Session Smart Router (SSR) products with default passwords are being targeted as part of a malicious campaign that deploys the Mirai botnet malware. The company said it's issuing the advisory after "several customers" reported anomalous behavior on their Session Smart Network (SSN) platforms on December 11, 2024. "These systems have been infected with the Mirai
Avatar
Read More