'Each man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world'
-- Arthur Schopenhauer, Essays and Aphorisms

'Artists are tricky fellows sir, forever shaping the world according to some design of their own'
-- Jonathan Strange, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Monday 13 June 2011

Spearfishing at the IMF

The recent announcement that the IMF had been the subject of a significant intrusion was the latest in a long line of high profile cyber attacks on prominent targets. Little has been released by the IMF (the IMF maintains sensitive financial data on nations) on this incident, but it is believed that one computer was compromised by a method known as spearfishing, which attaches a file that when executed, allows remote access to that system. 

Spearfishing was a name coined by the FBI and has been much in evidence in recent years. For a detailed breakdown on the recent attack on RSA security solutions, see here. For continued attacks on US government systems, see here. Although citing responsibility has been almost silent, China has come in for some criticism. As a state, they are perhaps world leaders in cyber-compromisation activities.


Headline of the day must go to the BBC World Service that started a piece on the now infamous Syrian lesbian lady's blog with the words, 'Gay Syrian in Damascus is American Man in Edinburgh'.

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