Sophisticated Hackers Infiltrate Dozens of U.N. Servers

An internal confidential document from the United Nations, leaked to The New Humanitarian and seen by The Associated Press, says many servers were undermined including at the U.N. human rights office, which gathers rather sensitive information all year round.

 According to a U.N. official, the hack seemed very “sophisticated” and the degree of the damage stays vague, particularly regarding personal, secret or compromising information that may have been ‘stolen’.

The official, who talked openly about the scene, basically on the condition of appearing anonymous, said frameworks have since been strengthened. “It’s as if someone were walking in the sand, and swept up their tracks with a broom afterward. There’s not even a trace of a clean-up,” says the authority said.

Jake Williams, CEO of the cybersecurity firm Rendition Infosec and a former U.S. government hacker says, “The intrusion definitely looks like espionage,” referring to the incident which occurred just the previous year where the ‘sophisticated hackers’ had invaded U.N. offices in Geneva and Vienna in an apparent espionage operation, and their identity and the degree of the information they acquired is obscure.

 “The attackers have a goal in mind and are deploying malware to machines that they believe serve some purpose for them and any number of intelligence agencies from around the globe are likely interested in infiltrating the U.N,” Williams added further.

U.N. representative Stephane Dujarric said the attack “resulted in a compromise of core infrastructure components” and was “determined to be serious.” The ‘earliest’ activity was identified with the intrusion that happened in July and it was detected in August, he said in light of emailed questions.

He said the world body needs more data to figure out who may have been behind the incursion; however included “the methods and tools used in the attack indicate a high level of resource, capability, and determination.”

The report says that the hackers exploited a flaw in Microsoft’s SharePoint software to penetrate the systems however that the type of malware utilized was unknown, nor had professionals recognized the command and control servers on the web used to exfiltrate data.

Nor was it comprehended what component and mechanism were utilized by the hackers to keep up their presence on the invaded systems. The inner document from the U.N. Office of Information and Technology said 42 servers were “compromised” and another 25 were regarded “suspicious,” about all at the sprawling Geneva and Vienna offices.

Three of the “compromised” servers are believed to belong to the Human Rights office, which is situated across town from the primary U.N. office in Geneva, and two were utilized by the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe.

Nonetheless, this hack comes in the midst of rising concerns about computer or cell phone vulnerabilities, both for huge associations like governments and the U.N. just as for individuals and businesses.