Al Jazeera is reporting that the latest attack on the US Federal Reserve is designed to steal data about people’s finances.
The hacktivist group Anonymous has already launched attacks on the financial system and other US institutions.
Anonymous, which has been active for the past year, has threatened to target the US central bank and its financial institutions.
A spokesperson for the Federal Reserve has not confirmed that the hack has taken place but confirmed that “a number of people” have been compromised.
“The Fed is aware of this hack,” the spokesperson told Al Jazeera.
“We are taking additional steps to protect our network and the security of the financial institutions and customers that use our systems.
We’re working with our vendors to make sure they have the tools they need to defend against these types of attacks.”US officials say that the attack on Thursday (local time) is not related to a recent attack against a US bank in the Caribbean.”
We’re aware of a cyberattack against the US Department of Justice and are investigating,” a Federal Reserve spokesperson told Reuters news agency.”
The Federal Reserve takes the threat of cyber attacks very seriously and will continue to take additional steps, including the use of enhanced security, to safeguard our network, our customer and our customers’ financial assets,” the Federal National Mortgage Association said in a statement on Friday.
In a blog post on Friday, the bank said that it was working to fix the breach and that it had “suspended all services and processes” for users.
“While we cannot comment on an ongoing investigation, we do have to share with you the actions that we have taken in the wake of the recent attack on US Government entities,” the post said.
The US Federal government has been under attack by a hacker group dubbed Guardians of Peace, which said on Friday that it would attack the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Central Bank.
Anonymous, based in the UK, said it had launched a series of attacks on several US institutions in January, including at the US Navy’s aircraft carrier USS George Washington.
