IMF Breached; Foreign Government May Be Involved

The International Monetary Fund is warning employees of potential spear-phishing attacks that could occur following a "major" breach that might involve email and other sensitive data, according to news reports.

The IMF has not made a public statement, but news reports by The New York Times and Bloomberg indicate that the breach is a "major" compromise that could have involved an unnamed foreign government.

According to the reports, the IMF sent a message to employees warning them of potential spear-phishing attacks that might occur following the compromise of the data. Another memo reportedly states that the IMF is cutting off its connection to the World Bank as a precautionary measure.

Experts suggested that the warnings about spear phishing could indicate that an infection might have been spread via email. Others suggested that the warnings might indicate that a database containing employee email addresses might have been among the compromised systems.

Bloomberg quoted an unnamed source who stated that a "large quantity" of data had been compromised, possibly over a period of weeks. IMF spokespeople are not commenting.

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