The IMF, earth’s global financial Voltron, was walloped by a huge hack over the weekend – and it’s doubtful a criminal group was behind the attack. What’s that mean? A foreign power probably backed the digital raid. Bad (diplomatic) news.
The BBC quotes a variety of online security experts, including one who’s worked for the IMF, and the consensus is against some group of hacker thugs doing it for the lulz. More likely, a foreign government wanted the massively valuable economic data the IMF keeps in its stores: “It has masses of economic information from the performance of countries to the state of their balance sheets. For countries deciding where to invest it is invaluable,” explains one analyst.
If the curtain’s raised before the government responsible for hacking the IMF – if that was indeed the case – expect a major geopolitical shitstorm. Prying into the IMF’s data isn’t exactly breaking into your ex’s Facebook profile. [BBC]