The Federal Reserve detected more than 50 breaches of itscomputer systems from 2011 to 2015, Reuters reported, adding tosigns that the central bank may be vulnerable to hackers orspies.

Hacking attempts were cited in 140 of 310 total reports providedby the Fed, and four incidents in 2012 were called acts of“espionage,” Reuters said in an article Wednesday based on Fedrecords obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Atleast two of the espionage cases resulted in information beingdisclosed. The Fed's national cybersecurity team identified 51cases of “information disclosure,” Reuters reported.

The documents, later obtained by Bloomberg, span 2,239 pages andare heavily redacted. The records don't identify hackers or saywhether sensitive information was accessed or money was stolen,Reuters said.

The Fed's security program and processes for detecting andcountering attacks are robust, and its critical operations havenever been affected, a Fed Board spokesperson said following thereport.

Cybersecurity at central banks is under increased scrutinyfollowing the theft of more than $80 million from the Bangladeshcentral bank's accounts at the New York Fed. The Reuters articlecovered cases involving the Fed's Board of Governors in Washington,and the news agency didn't have access to reports from local teamsat the 12 regional Fed banks, which include New York.

Theft Briefing

House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, a TexasRepublican, on Tuesday sent a letter to New York Federal ReservePresident William Dudley asking for a briefing and informationrelated to the February theft. Hackers stole from Bangladesh Bank'saccount at the New York Fed, which has said instructions to makethe payments were authenticated by the SWIFT message system that'swidely used by financial institutions.

While acknowledging that the Bangladesh bank's systems “appearto have been the weak link” in that case, the Smith letter statesthat it's Congress's responsibility to ensure that the New York Fedis “taking all precautions to protect American finances andaggressively execute its own role as overseer of SWIFT.”

In response to a letter earlier this year from DemocraticRepresentative Carolyn Maloney of New York, New York Fed GeneralCounsel Thomas Baxter said that “there is no evidence of anyattempt to penetrate Federal Reserve systems in connection with thepayments in question.”

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