The International Monetary Fund's problems keep going from bad to worse. First the IMF has to sort out the little problem of its leadership after Dominique Strauss-Kahn allegedly disgraced himself in a hotel room.
French finance minister Christine Lagarde is getting more support in her bid for the top job. At the same time, Israeli central banker Stanley Fischer has just announced his formal bid and Mexico's central bank governor, Augustin Carstens, has also announced his candidacy.
Meanwhile, the IMF has to sort out why its computers were hacked in a sophisticated and serious cyber attack and how much trouble it's in. It's unclear what documents were accessed, but this cyber attack is a very major breach because the IMF has highly confidential information about the fiscal conditions of many nations which makes this material political dynamite.
The Washington Post reports that the hacker group Anonymous recently called for an attack on the IMF's computers "in opposition to the corrupt Austerity Plans of the Greek Government leaders and the International Monetary Fund."
Tom Kellermann, a former cybersecurity specialist at the World Bank who has been tracking the incident has told The Wall Street Journal that this attack was more sophisticated than any of the others. The Wall Street Journal reports: " 'This isn't malware you've seen before,' he said, making it that much more difficult to detect. The concern, Mr. Kellermann said, is that hackers designed their attack to gain market-moving insider information. The attackers appeared to have broad access to IMF systems, which would give them visibility into IMF plans, particularly as it relates to bailing out the economies of countries on shaky financial footing, Mr. Kellermann said."
Add the IMF to the growing list. Companies who suffered recent attacks by hackers include Google, Sony, Lockheed Martin, PBS, Epsilon and Citibank which recently announced that about 200,000 credit card customers had personal information stolen.
Cyber security has now turned into a first order business issue. It means that companies and organizations now have to treat data management in the same manner as financial reporting. Otherwise, they will be horribly exposed.
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