Global hacker attacks into active IMF as latest victim

Recent hacking seems to have been a "realm" of rampant activity. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) computer system became the latest target for hackers, U.S. media reported 11th. The analysis points out that the attack of the IMF computer system will cause the national regulators to pay more attention to the computer and network security, and more supervision measures will be introduced in succession.

Hacking attacks have recently been rampant

The IMF is not the first big business or institution to be hacked in months. In addition to the hacked Web site, the hackers then raided companies such as Google, Nintendo, Lockheed Martin and Citigroup, and even the hackers of the US intelligence agency's non-profit-making organization have dared to provoke them.

April 26 This year, Sony, Japan issued a circular, said the hackers hacked into its "gaming station" and cloud music services Qriocity Network, the theft of a large number of user personal information. Subsequently, Sony was attacked in Greece, Thailand and Indonesia, as well as the website of Sony Ericsson's Canadian company. In a few rounds of attacks, a total of more than 100 million Sony online accounts were affected. U.S. banking giant Citigroup 9th this month admitted that hackers invaded the bank's North American network, and received about 200,000 credit card customers information.

According to Hong Kong media, hacker attacks have a long history, as early as 2000, auction site ebay, internet retailer Amazon and Cable News Network (CNN) site has been hacked by hackers to interrupt the service (DoS) intrusion, some of the site more attacks for several days. Recent hacking has not only been characterized by a growing number of attacks, but also by financial institutions as the primary target.

Hong Kong's Ming Pao article said that the current hacker is probably divided into 3 kinds, some are known as "white hat" hackers, will find the site's weaknesses and then inform the site owner, and "Black Hat" hacking site is designed to steal information profit, belong to the most notorious criminals. Between the two is the so-called "gray cap" hacker, the invasion is purely a hoax. It is reported that the alleged attacks on Sony, Nintendo and the FBI's non-profit-making organizations Web site Lulz and has long been blacklisted by governments, "anonymous" (anony-mous) are "gray cap" category.

The victim's loss is difficult to estimate

The New York Times quoted im F executives as saying that hacking attacks on the IMF's computer system could be described as "complex and serious". The article points out that IM F encounters a hacker attack that touches the nerves of the outside world, because it stores a lot of information that may cause market volatility in the organization's database. In addition, it has recently been busy dealing with financial aid for Portugal, Greece and Ireland, which has some "sensitive data" in those countries. More worryingly, the agency's database contains private negotiations with a number of "rescue" leaders on financial aid programmes that, if leaked, could "set off political turmoil in many countries".

The IMF's hacking incident also involved the World Bank. "To be cautious, the bank has cut off its network links with the International Monetary Fund," said World Bank spokesman Richie Mills.

Corporate losses are also very heavy, in addition to compensation for consumer losses and other tangible expenses, there are future strengthening network security and other intangible expenditures. Reuters Breakingviews columnist Robert Saigan recently pointed out that hackers ' continual gains will force a sharp rise in corporate security costs, which accounted for 8% of the IT budget in North America and Europe in 2007, a figure that grew to 14% in 2010.

Sony recently expected a hacking attack that would cause the company to lose at least 14 billion yen (about HK $1.3 billion), including information technology spending, legal litigation costs and free services to entice users to reuse Sony services.

Many countries have taken response measures

The US intelligence agency has joined the investigation into hacking the attacks on IM F computer systems, a spokesman for the Pentagon said late 11th, Reuters reported.

Spanish police 10th announced the arrest of 3 members of the "anonymous" of the famous hacker group, alleged to have organised attacks on the internet from Sony, Spanish banks, Italian companies and a number of government websites in Spain, the Middle East and South America. The "anonymous" then threatened retaliation on the social networking site TW Itter, saying "We are a legion and we are going to see". According to the introduction, the "anonymous" claiming to be "hacker activism" (hactivists), since its inception in 2003, several times on various issues launched cyber attacks, targeted at such as Visa, MasterCard and other large enterprises and a number of government websites.

In addition, in response to the recent rampant hacking activities, the European Union 10th has proposed the establishment of a dedicated online crime law enforcement agencies, and the hacker attack penalty increased to at least 5 years in prison. U.S. media said the U.S. federal government is also considering measures to strengthen network security.

(Responsible editor: admin)