QCOSTARICA — In recent days, countries such as Chile, Colombia, and Argentina have been attacked by cybercriminals who, through ransomware (information hijacking), have managed to infiltrate IFX Networks virtual machines, that generated an alert by Costa Rican authorities due to a possible advance of this threat.
Through a technical alert issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology in the MICITT-DGDCFD-DRII-AT-267-2023 letter, IT heads and Cybersecurity liaisons were notified of this situation so that they could take the necessary measures. such as reviewing and cleaning data before backups, system audits, and use of least privileges.
According to the CNN en Español reports in Colombia on Friday, IFX Networks announced in a statement that some of its virtual machines had been affected by a Ransomware-type attack, recorded on Tuesday morning, which caused failures in some websites. The company has operations in 17 countries in the region, according to the press release.
The Minister of the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications of Colombia, Mauricio Lizcano announced on Wednesday on X (formerly Twitter) that there are 762 organizations affected by this attack, not only in Colombia but also in Chile and Argentina, without detailing the number of Colombian government and private portals affected.
Costa Rica is susceptible to being attacked
“We are susceptible to being attacked,” said the Minister of Science and Technology, Paula Bogantes, in an interview with La Republca. Bogantes added that she is confident that the increase in the national budget for the MICITT will contribute to the fight against cybercrime.
Read more: Cyberattack keeps Ministry of Finance in Costa Rica under siege
According to Bogantes, authorities claim to be aware of the constant evolution and growth of cyber threats, for which investments are being made in advanced technologies to optimize the response to incidents and executing security programs and training.
Bogantes added that “Costa Rica has taken cyber threats seriously, particularly after the large-scale incident last year. Since that moment, the country has redoubled efforts to strengthen its cybersecurity posture, both at the infrastructure and training levels.”
