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    - Photo via Ministry of Technology - |
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Published on Tuesday, May 17, 2022
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The
country is facing a war against
international cybercriminals who are
receiving help from people in the
country, said President Rodrigo Chaves
at a press conference. According
to Chaves, there are clues that people
from the country are cooperating with
the Russian hackers known as the Conti
group. That's the same group that has
claimed responsibility for the attacks
on the information systems of various
public institutions since April. “We are
at war and this is not an
exaggeration. Costa Rica is suffering
cyber terrorist attacks," Chaves said.
"The war is against an international
terrorist group that apparently has
collaborators in Costa Rica, who are
betraying the country. There are very
clear indications that people in Costa
Rica are collaborating with Conti.” Chaves
said that previous authorities
(referring to the government of Carlos
Alvarado) did very little to solve the
cyber attack. In addition, there was a
lack of coordination between the
organizations affected by the
cyberattacks and the authorities. Currently,
there are more than 27 public
institutions that have been targeted
by hackers, such as the ministries of
Finance, Science, Innovation,
Technology and Telecommunications,
Labor, Costa Rican Radiographic,
National Meteorological Institute,
Social Security and the Social Aid
Development Fund, among many others. One of
the most affected organizations is the
Ministry of Finance. Since April, due
to the blockade of the systems and
applications provided by this public
organization, thousands of companies
and professionals have not been able
to issue electronic invoices and it
has been even more difficult to pay
taxes.
"We are not able to collect taxes through the traditional system. We don't know and we don't have information on who is paying taxes," Chaves said.
In addition, there is a huge impact on international trade processes and payment of taxes on imports, since the customs online service was hacked. "We don't know how the country's budget implementation is progressing," Chaves added.
Government specialists continue to work on diagnosing system damages. They plan on implementing an action plan to resolve the problem. Local specialists are receiving support from specialists in Israel, the United States and Spain to restore the systems affected by the cyberattacks.
Among the first presidential decrees announced by Chaves was the declaration of a national emergency for the cyber attacks carried out by the Conti group. The decree titled: "Declaration of National Emergency in the Public Sector due to the Cyberattack," allows the use of government funds to finance the actions that would be carried out to address the emergency.
Recently, the U.S. Department of State announced a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of any individual who holds a key leadership position in the Conti ransomware variant transnational organized crime group.
The
Federal Bureau of Investigation,
FBI, estimates that as of January
2022, there had been over 1,000
victims of attacks associated with
Conti ransomware. Victim payouts
exceeded $150 million making that
ransomware variant the most damaging
strain of ransomware ever
documented.
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