"Ransomware Attacks Target Government Agencies in Latin America"

Several government agencies in Latin America have been targeted in ransomware attacks in the past months, and the latest victims are Chile and the Dominican Republic.  Chile's Ministry of Interior recently reported that a government agency had its systems and online services disrupted by a piece of ransomware that targeted Windows and VMware ESXi servers.  It was noted that the ransomware encrypted files on compromised systems and renamed them with the extension .crypt.  The targeted agency appears to be Sernac, the country's National Consumer Service, which ensures the protection of consumer rights.  The organization disclosed the incident on August 25.  Chilean authorities believe the incident involved the relatively new RedAlert ransomware, also known as N13V.  RedAlert uses double extortion, encrypting the victim's files and threatening to leak data stolen from its systems unless a ransom is paid.  RedAlert's Tor-based leak website does not mention any Chilean government agency currently.  A government organization in the Dominican Republic was also hit by ransomware recently.  The country's national cybersecurity center said on August 24 that the Ministry of Agriculture's Dominican Agrarian Institute (IAD) was targeted but highlighted that the government does not plan on paying a ransom to avoid encouraging threat actors to conduct these types of operations.  During this attack, it is believed that Quantum ransomware was involved in the attack.  The cybercriminals claimed to have stolen more than 1 Tb of files and demanded a $650,000 ransom.  Currently, there is no mention of IAD on Quantum's data leak website.  Earlier this month, ransomware also hit Argentina's Judiciary of Córdoba, forcing the organization to shut down systems and services.  A new piece of file-encrypting ransomware named "Play" was involved in this incident.  In May, the hackers behind the Conti ransomware targeted Costa Rica's computer systems and threatened to overthrow the government.  Around the same time, the cybercriminals also announced hacking a government organization in Peru.

SecurityWeek reports: "Ransomware Attacks Target Government Agencies in Latin America"