Costa Rica declares national emergency due to ransomware

Rodrigo Chaves, president of Costa Rica, has declared a state of emergency nationwide, but not because of a natural disaster or conflict situation. In this case, the reason behind Chaves' decision is to be found in the recent cyberattacks against various government agencies by the infamous Conti ransomware group. As found by BleepingComputer, Conti dumped 672 GB of data and published 97% of it in the form of a leak.

Chaves' resolution dates back to May 8, the same day he became the 49th president of Costa Rica.

Se cuenta con servicios de monitoreo 24x7x365 for the atención de incidentes de ciberseguridad.

- CCSSdeCostaRica (@CCSSdeCostaRica) April 19, 2022



The first victim of the Conti attack was the Ministry of Finance, the damages of which are still being assessed, together with the extent of the violation. The government denied payment of the $ 10 million ransom demanded by the criminals. In any case, several other governing bodies have been hit and part that those responsible are not to be identified in the entire Conti group, but in a sub-group known as UNC1756, which threatens to carry out further even heavier attacks.| ); }
The situation is so tense, that the US government has promised a $ 15 million prize to anyone who can provide information to identify and arrest Conti leaders and operators.