UN says cyber hackers breached systems earlier this year

The United Nations (UN) announced on Thursday that they had been subjected to a cybersecurity threat by hackers earlier this year, who were able to access parts of the organisation’s computer networks. 

“We can confirm that unknown attackers were able to breach parts of the United Nations infrastructure in April of 2021,” UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement on Thursday.

"We can also confirm that further attacks have been detected and are being responded to, that is linked to the earlier breach," he added.

The hackers targeted the UN’s project management software by possibly purchasing employees login passwords and may have access to up to 4 months worth of data, according to a Bloomberg report.

“The main goal of the threat actor was to perform network intrusion,” Gene Yoo, chief executive of Resecurity told The Washington Post, as large organisations holding vast amounts of important data like the UN are gold mines for cyber attackers which draws international interest. 

An IT security firm also told CNN that in April they tracked a prominent cybercriminal group who had claimed to have accessed the UN software. 

Between 2019 and 2020 alone, cyberattacks increased by 62 percent worldwide and according to the UK National Cyber Security Centre.