Global development corp IFC hacked near White House

The Russian-allied hacktivist gangs Killnet and Anonymous Sudan have claimed another major financial institution – the International Finance Corporation (IFC) headquartered in Washington DC.

It's the latest major financial target by the hacker collective, which has been threatening to decimate the European banking system since last week.

A member of the World Bank Group, the IFC is the largest development institution in the world, helping to promote private sector growth in developing countries, according to IFC doctrine.

The website was reported down at about 8 a.m. ET Wednesday morning, although Cybernews can confirm the site was loading without issue by the afternoon.

Killnet first posted about the attack on its Telegram page with a simple “Goodbye” and a hand-waving emoji accompanied by a picture of the IFC building on Pennsylvania Avenue in DC.

Ironically, the IFC happens to be located barely one mile northwest from the White House, also on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Minutes later, Anonymous Sudan reposted the claims on its own Telegram channel.

“Unfortunately, the IFC is no longer working, we ask all partners and staff of the Bank's organization to go,” Anonymous Sudan said.

Soon after, Killnet posted links to its apparent multiple cryptocurrency accounts in its attempt to collect donations for its latest work.

On Monday, the hacktivists claimed on Telegram to have knocked several European banking systems offline, including the European Investment Bank (EIB), which confirmed the morning attack on Twitter.

Killnet also posted this mantra to its Telegram channel Wednesday, boasting about its allegiance to the Kremlin in its native tongue.

The post's translation: “We only f!@#k unfriendly countries. We love our homeland, we destroy our enemies!”

Both hacker groups have consistently been in the media spotlight since January, threatening to take down America and NATO allies for their support of Ukraine since the Russian-led invasion.

Anonymous Sudan made waves with its recent attacks on Microsoft this month, relentlessly targeting Microsoft's 365 (starting with Outlook) and Azure platforms for about a week straight. The group also made headlines with its Valentine's Day attacks on Sweden and repeated targeting of SAS Airlines.

Microsoft finally admitted to being taken offline by the group via its favored distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.

Meantime, Killnet – focused on targeting NATO and other Ukrainian supporters in the first half of 2023 – has kept itself busy posting pro-Russian propaganda, advertising its own darknet hacker school, becoming a private military organization, and even claiming to have disbanded at one point.

Last Friday, Killnet, Anonymous Sudan, and fellow Russian-linked hacker group, REvil, announced they met to discuss the planned financial sector attacks, coining themselves the Darknet Parliament.

The phrase almost instantly emerged as a trending keyword on Twitter among threat analysts.

Cybernews continues to follow the story.