One of the Federal Reserve's internal websites has been breached by a group linked to the Anonymous computer hacktivist organization.
The central bank did not publicly identify which website was hacked, although Reuters obtained a copy of the message sent by the Fed to members of its Emergency Communication System (ECS) stating that the personal contact data of more than 4,000 U.S. bank executives was purloined.
‘Some registrants also included optional information consisting of home phone and personal email. Despite claims to the contrary, passwords were not compromised,’ the Fed said in its ECS message.
Separately, the news site ZDNet reports that Anonymous reportedly published the information taken from the Fed's website, including login information, credentials, Internet protocol addresses and contact information of the bank executives listed in the Fed's system.
A Fed spokesperson downplayed the cyberattack.
‘The Federal Reserve System is aware that information was obtained by exploiting a temporary vulnerability in a website vendor product,’ the spokesperson said. ‘Exposure was fixed shortly after discovery and is no longer an issue. This incident did not affect critical operations of the Federal Reserve System.’