IMF latest target in string of cyber attacks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund is investigating a cyber attack on its computer systems, an IMF spokesman said on Saturday, the most recent incident of computer hackers breaching security at high-profile institutions. The IMF, which has sensitive information on the economics of many nations, was hit during the last several months by what computer experts described as a large and sophisticated cyber attack, The New York Times reported. 

"Last week we detected some suspicious file transfers, and the subsequent investigation established that a Fund desktop computer had been compromised and used to access some Fund systems," said a June 8 email obtained by Bloomberg to employees from Chief Information Officer Jonathan Palmer. The incident comes when attacks on computer systems are on the rise -- especially ones targeting major companies and potentially compromising government security and customer information. Recently, there have been major attacks on defense contractor Lockheed Martin, Citigroup Inc, Sony Corp and Google.