Costa Rica says it's 'at war' with Conti ransomware

Date:
Thu, 19 May 2022 18:47:34 +0000

Description:
Costa Rican president escalates spat with ransomware group.

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Recently appointed Costa Rican president Rodrigo Chaves has said his country is at war with the Conti ransomware gang.

The group recently launched an attack that is reported to have hit 27 government institutions, including municipalities, utilities, and the
Ministry of Finance.

The announcement comes after the Russian-speaking Conti group doubled its ransom demand to $20 million and asked that Costa Ricans go out on the street and demand payment" in an online statement.

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Chaves said that his countrys public sector has not been able to collect
taxes for the traditional tax system, that international trade had been impacted, and that the payment of salaries to public sector staff has also been affected.

The president told listeners to the press conference - originally reported by Q COSTA RICA - that unfortunately there is still no diagnosis of the full magnitude of the damage.

However, Chaves did seize the opportunity to lay the blame on the countrys previous administration.

The previous government leaves us this task, he said. From April 17, when the attack began, to May 8, frankly very little was done.

In fact, there was a lack of coordination, denial of information to the different elements that had to be involved." Read More

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Conti claimed in an online statement it has insiders in the Costa Rican government and that it is also working on gaining access to your other systems.

In addition, Conti warned the government: We know that you have hired a data recovery specialist, dont try to find workarounds.

The dire situation in Costa Rica is a timely reminder for business to harden their protections against threats like ransomware.

A recent survey of IT leaders by Veeam found that, although 76% of victims concede to ransom demands, just 52% were ultimately able to recover their encrypted files, leaving the remaining 24% were left empty-handed and out of pocket. Clear your devices of any lingering infections with best malware removal tools



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/costa-rica-says-its-at-war-with-conti-ransomwar e/


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