Security News > 2021 > March > Cyber Attack Tied to China Boosts Development Bank's Chief
To unclog the network, the bank took the drastic step of blocking all traffic from China.
News of the attack is surfacing just as the bank's new president, Mauricio Claver-Carone, seeks to leverage his hawkish views on China from his time in the Trump administration to outmaneuver those in Washington and beyond still fuming over his politically charged election last year.
The bash in Washington was hastily organized after the Trump administration six months earlier rallied allies to force the cancellation of the IDB gathering in the Chinese city of Chengdu, which was to be something of a breaking out party for China a decade after it joined the bank.
Claver-Carone was the U.S. official driving the diplomatic standoff with China at the IDB. As the top White House official for Latin America, he was also the architect of "America Rising," a program that sought to curb the inroads being made by China in Latin America, where it has displaced the U.S. as the top trading partner in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, and Chile.
Three people at the bank told the AP they recall China being openly blamed for the attack in briefings back in 2019 to discuss the fallout.
China is also the second-largest non-borrowing shareholder in IDB Invest, the bank's private lending arm, with nearly 6% of shares, thanks to a reorganization in 2015 when the Obama administration refused to pony up additional resources and saw the U.S.' stake diluted to 13%. The IDB also manages a $2 billion fund made up entirely of contributions from China.