Leaked report shows UN faced data breach, kept it secret from employees

The United Nations faced a cyberattack last year, but failed to disclose the details of it until the media recently got hold of an internal document.

The identity of the hackers and the extent of data stolen is still not known, as top officials at the intergovernmental organization kept quiet. The hackers were allegedly able to obtain around 400GB of data.

The Associated Press saw the internal document that outlined how dozens of servers were compromised. Servers at the UN human rights office, which holds sensitive data, were also compromised during the breach.

Information about the breach was kept a secret, which security experts say only multiplies the risk that more data will be compromised.

“The attack resulted in a compromise of core infrastructure components. As the exact nature and scope of the incident could not be determined, [the UN] decided not to publicly disclose the breach,” a spokesperson for the UN told The New Humanitarian.

A former hacker for the U.S. government told The Associated Press that the intrusion looks like espionage since the hackers tried to cover their tracks by deleting logs to hide any traces of their attack.

Source: The Associated Press, The New Humanitarian