+54By Associated Press on May 16, 2022
A ransomware gang that infiltrated some Costa Rican government computer systems has upped its threat, saying its goal is now to overthrow the government.
The Russian-speaking Conti gang 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.
+6This story is crazy! And $150 million to date this year? No wonder ransomware attacks are booming. Lots of money to be made.
The gang also said it was raising the ransom demand to $20 million. It called on Costa Ricans to pressure their government to pay.
The attack has encrypted government data and the gang said Saturday that if the ransom wasn’t paid in one week, it would delete the decryption keys.
The U.S. State Department statement last week said 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,” the statement said.
+1In the end all they want is money.. seems like the threats to “overthrow the government” are just a means to get more eyes on the issue to pressure the government to pay.
No account yet? Create an account
Enter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.
