Massive IMF cyberattack ‘was state-backed’, say sources
June 13, 2011 Leave a comment
IMF seal
By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org
A massive and sophisticated cyberattack that targeted the computer systems of the International Monetary Fund last month was “linked to a foreign government”, according to sources familiar with the incident. The IMF, an international institution which oversees financial crises around the world, revealed the security breach in an internal email sent last week, but has yet to make a public announcement about the incident. Although the cyberattack was not publicly announced, it was revealed last weekend by The New York Times, which cited a “security expert […] familiar with the incident”. The paper notes that IMF’s computer databases function as “a repository of highly confidential information about the fiscal condition of many nations”, and that they contain “potentially market-moving information”. British daily The Independent adds that “internal political opponents and foreign intelligence services could […] find [in the IMF databases] explosive information about government dealings with the fund”. Intriguingly, the attack occurred in the weeks prior to the arrest of the Fund’s Director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was detained on American soil on charges of sexually assaulting a female worker at his luxury New York hotel. Read more of this post
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IT worker gave secrets to FBI agent posing as Israeli spy
July 26, 2011 by Joseph Fitsanakis Leave a comment
Akamai logo
By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
An American employee of a major information technology firm has pled guilty to providing inside economic information about his employer to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer. Federal prosecutors at the Office for the US Attorney in the state of Massachusetts have indicted Elliot Doxer, 42, from Brooklyn, New York (see previous intelNews coverage here). Until last August, Doxer worked in the finance department of Akamai Technologies, Inc., an Internet content delivery company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. According to the indictment, in June of 2006, Doxer voluntarily contacted the consulate of Israel in Boston via email, offering to provide Israeli intelligence officers with inside information about Akamai. He offered to do this, he said, in order “to help our homeland [presumably Israel] and our war against our enemies”. He also requested a $3,000 compensation for his services. But Israeli consular officials forwarded his email to the FBI. The latter sent an undercover agent to contact Doxer, posing as an Israeli intelligence operative. Believing that the FBI agent was a spy for Israel, Doxer began giving him classified information on a routine basis, an arrangement that lasted until March of 2009. During these 18 months, Doxer gave inside information —including details of Akamai’s computer and physical security systems— to his FBI handler at least 62 times, according to prosecutors. Read more of this post
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Akamai Technologies, counterintelligence, economic espionage, Elliot Doxer, FBI, Israel, Israeli consulate in Boston, lawsuits, Massachusetts, News, United States