The Chambermaid’s Revenge: IMF Hacked

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Usually, the apparent purpose of hacks is fairly banal. To steal defense secrets. To profit organized crime. To embarrass a political opponent.

But a reported sophisticated hack on the IMF is far more intriguing.

Because the fund has been at the center of economic bailout programs for Portugal, Greece and Ireland — and possesses sensitive data on other countries that may be on the brink of crisis — its database contains potentially market-moving information. It also includes communications with national leaders as they negotiate, often behind the scenes, on the terms of international bailouts. Those agreements are, in the words of one fund official, “political dynamite in many countries.” It was unclear what information the attackers were able to access.

The concern about the attack was so significant that the World Bank, an international agency focused on economic development, whose headquarters is across the street from the I.M.F. in downtown Washington, cut the computer link that allows the two institutions to share information.

The story mentions market-moving information, so I assume it could just be someone trying to play the bond markets.

But what is the scenario under which hackers compromise IMF’s top secret files to get information on the deals signed between the banksters and debtor nations? While I’d like to see that information–and I’m sure the Greeks rioting in the streets and the Irish stoically bearing down accepting their fate would like to see that information–I don’t understand what entity would sponsor the hackers? Organized crime? China? Hacktivists? If it were the latter–which seems most plausible to me–wouldn’t we already be looking at the demands German banksters made of Greek leaders?

I’m sure we’ll learn more about this in the future. But for now, I’m really curious about who had the means and motive to hack the IMF.

Aside from a bunch of chambermaids, of course.

  1. emptywheel says:

    OK. Just one maid, that we know of.

    But it sure sounds like treating working class women like shit is not just an abstract imperative at the IMF.

  2. PhilPerspective says:

    EW:
    Given what we know about the world economy, who wouldn’t want to hack the World Bank/IMF? If nothing else, it will really embarrass our MOTU. And we’ll see further proof how the MOTU think of the rest of us as disposable pawns.

  4. scribe says:

    When you say:

    I’m really curious about how had the means and motive to hack the IMF.

    Didn’t you really mean:

    I’m really curious about who had the means and motive to hack the IMF.

    If I were a betting man, I would put my money on it being someone seeking to profit from knowing the background discussions and plans for bailouts and such. I seem to remember Danny Quayle and the Rethugs trying real, real hard to collapse the auto industry, which IIRC would have made them a bundle b/c they held the side of some bets that won on default/collapse.

    And I wouldn’t be surprised a bit if someone in the Quayle/Rethug-moneyman orbit was on the side of CDS bets that win if/when the US defaults. (Which is also why I think the Rethugs in Congress will not back off causing a default.) From what I’ve read, the value of those bets themselves have increased several times over the last couple weeks or so.

    Of course, when it comes to insider trading, which is what this could be, anyone trading has sufficient motivation – greed – to do the hack. It’s a matter of who has sufficient means to do it, both financial and technological. That kinda narrows the field to governments, the Mob, and competing banksters.

    Of course, there are still cheeto-eating teenagers in their moms’ basements, doing it for thrills, cred, or as dupes.

    I’m hoping it’s for transparency’s sake, but I’m not counting on it.

    • emptywheel says:

      Yup. Thanks for the correction.

      And yeah, all your spec is probably right on.

      Though I’m not so convinced it’d only be the Quayles of the world. Seems to me they get that info for free.

  5. radiofreewill says:

    I’m going to make a guess that Straus-Kahn left some really important information behind at the office – which he got locked-out of when the chambermaid scandal broke.

    So, it’s possible that his patrons-behind-the-scenes sponsored the hack to remove any incriminating evidence of their own influence over policy and actions…before Hilary or some other ‘outsider’ gets placed in the job.

      • scribe says:

        So, was the hack interrupted by his ouster and replacement (i.e., analogous to why banks make their employees take two-week vacations – because no scam being run by/with an insider in a bank is likely to survive or go undetected more than two weeks without the operator being present), was he part of or complicit in the hack, was the ouster a cover for the hack, or was it just fortuitous timing?

  6. alabama says:

    Why would we need “an entity sponsoring the hackers”? If the hackers are Greek, Portugese, Spanish or Irish, they’d have a lot to gain from publicizing the darker dealings of the Germans and such. And come to think of it, the German people themselves have a lot to gain from any daylight shed on the dealings of Deutsche Bank. This is a class war, and anyone being battered by the banks–in other words almost everyone–would benefit from any daylight whatsoever.

    This could well prefigure some European equivalent of the Arab spring. I think it can only embarrass the bad guys; I see no downside for the good guys here.

  7. BayStateLibrul says:

    The Belmont after the beep…

    Ruler on Ice

    Mudder, mudder…

    Post interview with his jockey a must see

  8. melior says:

    its database contains potentially market-moving information. It also includes communications with national leaders as they negotiate, often behind the scenes, on the terms of international bailouts.

    Oh noes! So scary to think that the rabble might also profit from the insider information that Serious Important Well Connected People use to illegally enrich themselves by speculating right before a big announcement.

    Wouldn’t that be a tragedy for everyone, if you define everyone as the Serious Important Well Connected People who have never actually worked a day in their lives!

    • onitgoes says:

      No one has adequate security, methinks. It’s just not that easy, frankly, even when you’ve got bazillion$ to pay for the best security programmers, etc. It’s all pretty fragile, I’m thinking, this “security” stuff.

      That said, with the state the world economy is in, there’s a lot of motivation out there to hack into orgs like the IMF/World Bank.

  10. onitgoes says:

    Weren’t the Chinese hacking Lockheed & USG entities?

    Perhaps it’s them hacking the IMF. I’m sure the Chinese would love to know a thing or two from that organization, and I’m sure that the Chinese have the capability to do it.

    That said, if it’s China, then the info won’t see the light of day, unfortunately.

    Speaking of which, whatever happened to those WikiLeaks about various banks and/or banking communications that Assange was going to provide about 5 months ago? One wonders what happened with that info, which was meant to be hot hot hot… did someone “get” to Assange?

  11. jo6pac says:

    The hackers could be from any country that has felt imf Shock Doctrine in the past or right now

  12. Bobster33 says:

    Oh Wikileaks, Oh Wikileaks, Where art thou? Julian Assange should post all of the hacked info, if he has it.

  13. eCAHNomics says:

    Given that David Sanger is the NYT reporter, I think you can’t even take his word that the IMF was actually hacked.

  16. DangerousDave says:

    Two scenarios, first being that if this actually happened that the parties involved did it for the money. Any sensitive information they would have gotten could be used to blackmail high ranking member of the IMF. Second, it didn’t happen at all and it will be used as yet another false flag event in order to further restrict the internet either by generating more laws governing it or limiting the populations acces to it. IMHO.

  17. hackworth1 says:

    Biggest Market Maker I know of is Goldman Sachs. Of course, Goldman doesn’t need to hack anything. They have plenty of inside players that just hand them market moving information at their beck and call.

    That’s how much Obama loves Lloyd Blankfein. It is a deep and lasting love.

    • bmaz says:

      Heh, what does it say when the best you can hope for is that the illegal intrusion was done by vigilante punk cyber-criminals? That said, such is indeed probably the best case scenario. Scary.

  19. PierceNichols says:

    I’m deeply amused by the assumption that whoever hacked the IMF must be a big shot, or sponsored by a big shot. It’s such cramped cold-war thinking. The fact is that half a dozen motivated people with laptops, internet connections, free time and the right skills can pwn any networked computer on the planet.

    Lulzsec (an organization whose only known probable members are Spanish, btw)is busy proving my point on a daily basis. Everyone’s computer security is shit. Even the IMF’s. All it take to knock it over is half a dozen folks with the right skills and some laptops. The skills required are somewhat rare… but not that rare, and anyone with a laptop and internet access has the tools to acquire them and use them.

  20. yellowsnapdragon says:

    Bloomberg says it’s a “foreign government”.

    The International Monetary Fund’s computer system was attacked by hackers believed to be connected to a foreign government, resulting in the loss of e-mails and other documents, according to a person familiar with the incident.