Multiple government entities in Costa Rica were hit by cyberattacks done by the Conti ransomware group, ensuing in the assertion of a national emergency. Cybersecurity experts have also found about 672GB worth of government agencies’ data owned by Costa Rica dumped on the threat group’s dark web leak site.
On May 8th, Costa Rica’s newly elected President Rodrigo Chaves declared a national emergency on the country following rampant attacks against many of their government entities. In April, it could be recalled that the Conti threat gang had also claimed to be striking the country through different attack vectors.
Conti’s leak site showed that 97% of the 672GB of data had already been dumped by the gang, which allegedly contains the stolen information from the Costa Rican government entities. The group also listed several government agencies they attacked, including Costa Rica’s Finance Ministry, Ministerio de Hacienda; Ministry of Labor and Social Security, MTSS; the Interuniversity Headquarters Alajuela, SIUA; and the Social Development and Family Allowances Fund, FODESAF.
Conti claimed responsibility for the attacks against Costa Rica and threatened graver attacks in the future.
From the Costa Rican President’s statement for the decree no. 42542, he confirmed that the country was suffering at the hands of cybercriminals, hence the declaration of a national emergency. Last month, it was reported that their country’s treasury was shut down due to being attacked, which disrupted an array of their productive sector.
The president also added that signing the decree represents Costa Rica’s defensive action against the cybercriminal attacks.
Aside from the earlier mentioned government agencies, other entities included in the attacks are the National Meteorological Institute (IMN), Radiographic Costarricense (Racsa), the Ministry of Science, Innovation, Technology, and Telecommunications, Administrative Board of the Electrical Service of the province of Cartago (Jasec), and the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS).
In related news, the US government has recently announced that they will give rewards of up to $15 million to anyone that can deliver any useful information about the Conti ransomware gang that could lead to their identification and seizures.
