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A8 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 30 January 2020
Leaked report shows United Nations suffered hack

By JAMEY KEATEN and cleared the network logs ing confidential was com- to Human Rights agency, weekends in recent months
FRANK BAJAK indicates they were not top promised." which is located across to isolate the local U.N.
Associated Press flight. The most skilled hack- U.N. spokesman Stephane town from the main U.N. data center from the i nter-
GENEVA (AP) — Sophisti- ers — including U.S., Russian Dujarric said the attack office in Geneva, and two net, re-write passwords and
cated hackers infiltrated and Chinese agents — can "resulted in a compromise were used by the U.N. Eco- ensure the systems were
U.N. offices in Geneva and cover their tracks by edit- of core infrastructure com- nomic Commission for Eu- clean. Twenty machines
Vienna last year in an ap- had to be rebuilt, the report
parent espionage opera- says.
tion, and their identity and The hack comes amid rising
the extent of the data they concerns about computer
obtained is unknown. or mobile phone vulnera-
An internal confidential bilities, both for large orga-
document from the Unit- nizations like governments
ed Nations, leaked to The and the U.N. as well as for
New Humanitarian and individuals and businesses.
seen by T he Associated Last week, U.N. human
Press, says dozens of serv- rights experts asked the U.S.
ers were compromised in- government to investigate
cluding at the U.N. human a suspected Saudi hack
rights office, which collects that may have siphoned
sensitive data and has of- data from the personal
ten been a lightning rod smartphone of Jeff Bezos,
of criticism from autocratic the Amazon founder and
governments for exposing owner of The Washington
rights abuses. Post, in 2018. On Tuesday,
Asked about the report, T he New York Times's bu-
one U.N. official told the AP reau chief in Beirut, Ben
that the hack appeared Hubbard, said technology
"sophisticated" and that researchers suspected an
the extent of the damage In this June 18, 2014, file photo flags fly outside the United Nations building in Vienna, Austria. attempted intrusion into his
remained unclear, espe- Associated Press phone around the same
cially in terms of personal, time.
secret or compromising in- ing those logs instead of ponents" and was "deter- rope. The United Nations, and
formation that may have clearing them. mined to be serious." The The report says a flaw in its human rights office, is
been stolen. The official, "The intrusion definitely earliest detected activity Microsoft's SharePoint soft- particularly sensitive, and
who spoke only on condi- looks like espionage," said related to the intrusion oc- ware was exploited by the could be a tempting tar-
tion of anonymity to speak Williams, noting that the ac- curred in July and it was hackers to infiltrate the get. The U.N. High Com-
freely about the episode, tive directory component detected in August, he networks but that the type missioner for Human Rights,
said systems have since — where all users' permis- said in response to emailed of malware used was not Michelle Bachelet, and her
been reinforced. sions are managed — from questions. known, nor had techni- predecessors have called
The skill level was so high it three different domains He said the world body cians identified the com- out, denounced and criti-
is possible a state-backed were compromised: those does not have enough in- mand and control servers cized alleged war crimes,
actor might have been be- of United Nations offices in formation to determine on the internet used to ex- crimes against humanity
hind it, the official said. Geneva and Vienna and who might have been be- filtrate information. Nor was and less severe rights viola-
"It's as if someone were of the Office of the High hind the incursion, but add- it known what mechanism tions and abuses in places
walking in the sand, and Commissioner for Human ed "the methods and tools was used by the hackers to as diverse as Syria and Sau-
swept up their tracks with a Rights. used in the attack indicate maintain their presence on di Arabia.
broom afterward," the offi- "This, coupled with the rela- a high level of resource, the infiltrated networks. Dozens of independent
cial said. "There's not even tively small number of in- capability and determina- Security researcher Matt human rights experts who
a trace of a clean-up." fected machines, is highly tion. Suiche, a French entrepre- work with the U.N. human
The leaked Sept. 20 re- suggestive of espionage," "The damage related to this neur based in Dubai who rights office have greater
port says logs that would he said after viewing the specific attack has been founded the cybersecurity leeway — and fewer politi-
have betrayed the hack- report. "The attackers have contained, and additional firm Comae Technologies, cal and financial ties to the
ers' activities inside the U.N. a goal in mind and are de- mitigation measures imple- reviewed the report and governments that fund the
networks — what was ac- ploying malware to ma- mented," Dujarric wrote. said it appeared entry was United Nations and make
cessed and what may have chines that they believe "Nevertheless the threat of gained through an anti- up its membership — to
been siphoned out — were serve some purpose for future attacks continues, corruption tracker at the denounce alleged rights
"cleared." It also shows that them." and the United Nations U.N. Office of Drugs and abuses. "There's a lot of our
among accounts known to Any number of intelligence Secretariat detects and re- Crime. data that could have been
have been accessed were agencies from around the sponds to multiple attacks The report mentions a hacked, and we don't
those of domain adminis- globe are likely interested of various level of sophisti- range of IP addresses in Ro- know what that data could
trators — who by default in infiltrating the U.N., Wil- cation on a daily basis." mania that may have been be," said Richards, whose
have master access to all liams said. The internal document used to stage the infiltra- group advocates for the
user accounts in their pur- The hack was not severe from the U.N. Office of In- tion, and Williams said one welfare of employees of
view. at the U.N. human rights formation and Technology is reported to have some the world body.
"Sadly ... still counting our office, said its spokesman, said 42 servers were "com- neighbors with a history of Potentially affected, for ex-
casualties," the report says. Rupert Colville. promised" and another 25 hosting malware. ample, are staff in the of-
Jake Williams, CEO of the "We face daily attempts to were deemed "suspicious," Technicians at the United fice of the special envoy for
cybersecurity firm Rendition get into our computer sys- nearly all at the sprawling Nations office in Geneva, Syria carrying out sensitive
Infosec and a former U.S. tems ," Colville said. " This Geneva and Vienna of- the world body's European investigations and human
government hacker, said time, they managed, but it fices. Three of the "compro- hub, on at least two oc- rights staffers interviewing
the fact that the hackers did not get very far. Noth- mised" servers belonged casions worked through witnesses.q