Federal Reserve Suffered 50 Hacks in the past 5 years

http://ift.tt/1U4MUyq According to the records of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve was breached online 50 times between 2011 and 2015. Some of these hacks were described internally as “espionage”. The staff of the Federal Reserve suspected hackers or spies in many of the breaches. The bank’s computer systems play an important role in global banking and hold confidential data on decisions about monetary policy that drives financial markets.

The Fed officials heavily redacted the cybersecurity reports provided to the media in order to keep the Fed’s security procedures secret. The bank declined to comment, and the redacted records do not reveal who hacked its systems or whether any sensitive data was accessed or money stolen. The disclosed records represent only a part of all hacking attacks on the bank because they include only cases involving the Washington-based Board of Governors, as it is the only federal agency within the bank structure that is subject to public records laws. The public does not have access to reports by local cybersecurity teams at the Fed’s 12 privately owned regional branches.

Fed hacks are disclosed at a time when online security at central banks all over the world is under scrutiny after hackers manage to break into SWIFT messaging system and steal $81m from a Bangladesh Bank account at the NY Fed. Hackers have attacked big financial institutions worldwide, including JPMorgan, and some smaller local players like Ecuador’s Banco del Austro and Vietnam’s Tien Phong Bank. According to the reports provided by the Fed’s board, hacking attempts took place in 140 of the 310 records. Security experts who reviewed the provided data noted that in some reports, the incidents were not classified in any way.

8 breaches between 2011 and 2013 reportedly involved “malicious code”, referring to software used by cyber attackers. 4 hacking incidents in 2012 were described as acts of “espionage”, where the information was disclosed in at least half of them. It is not clear whether the espionage incidents involved foreign governments, as has been suspected in some breaches of federal agencies. For example, since 2014, hackers stole over 21m background check records from the federal Office of Personnel Management, and the US officials blamed the Chinese government for the hack.

Overall, more than 50 cases of “information disclosure” involving the Fed’s board were admitted by the Fed’s national team of cybersecurity experts. In the meantime, a local team at the board registered 4 such incidents.


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