The Fund Secretariat continues to implement measures in response to the cyberattack attempted against its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure. These measures have prevented losses of data and/or systems.

Today, the Fund’s monthly benefit payments was executed in accordance to the established scheduled and procedures.

The Fund is fully aware of the many concerns and questions that many of the stakeholders have about this incident. Therefore, this communication aims at informing all interested parties while, at the same time, preventing the disclosure of details that could weaken the mitigating measures and defense mechanisms being put in place in response to the attack.

The Fund implemented the following mitigating controls:

• Detective Measures: The Fund already had in place detective controls that worked as expected in generating the initial alert of the cyberattack. In addition, a specialized cybersecurity firm was engaged from the very initial occurrence of the incident. This firm assisted in the identification of the affected ICT assets and is also providing a continuous monitoring of the Fund’s systems to detect any new suspicious activity.
• Corrective Measures: The Fund isolated all affected assets and is now in the process of restoring/replacing them with completely new ones.
• Preventive Measures: The Fund had already conducted regular backups of its data, as a preventive action for this type of incident. Additional protection mechanisms are being implemented in all assets to prevent future infections.

The Fund is also conducting a forensic analysis of the impacted assets to acquire specific evidence and details of the attack. Information are being shared on a daily basis with all relevant UN organizations, financial partners and third-party vendors to strengthen synergies and collaboration.

We appreciate your support and patience in this sensitive situation.