"Ransomware Gang Threatens to Overthrow Costa Rica Government"

The Russian-speaking ransomware gang Conti that infiltrated some Costa Rican government computer systems has upped its threat, saying its goal is now to overthrow the government. Conti attacked Costa Rica in April, accessing multiple critical systems in the Finance Ministry, including customs and tax collection. Other government systems were also affected, and a month later, not all are fully functioning. Due to the attack, president Rodrigo Chaves declared a state of emergency over the attack as soon as he was sworn in last week. The U.S. State Department offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the identification or location of Conti leaders. Conti recently posted, “We are determined to overthrow the government by means of a cyber attack, we have already shown you all the strength and power, you have introduced an emergency.” The gang also said it was raising the ransom demand to $20 million. It called on Costa Ricans to pressure their government to pay. On Saturday, the gang stated that if the ransom wasn’t paid in one week, it would delete the decryption keys. Last week, the U.S. State Department noted that the Conti group had been responsible for hundreds of ransomware incidents during the past two years. The FBI estimates that as of January 2022, there had been over 1,000 victims of attacks associated with Conti ransomware, with victim payouts exceeding $150,000,000, making the Conti Ransomware variant the costliest strain of ransomware ever documented.  

SecurityWeek reports: "Ransomware Gang Threatens to Overthrow Costa Rica Government"