Latam · April 18, 2022 · 5 min
Conti versus Costa Rica: a Latin American government on its knees over ransomware
MedellínSoftware · Medellín, Colombia
April 2022. President Chaves declares a national emergency. The finance ministry is down. The Russian group Conti demands $20 million and publishes that it will bring the country down.
medellinsoftware.com/story/conti-declara-guerra-costa-rica/
Ransom
USD 20M
Group
Conti (Russia)
Status
National emergency
Year
2022
Costa Rica was not a Wall Street bank. It was a country. Conti — the most industrial ransomware cartel of its time, with its command in Russia — entered the Ministry of Finance and dozens of institutions. On April 18, 2022, Rodrigo Chaves declared a national emergency. The first time a state in the region did so over a cyberattack.
The operators published a war note: they were going to bring the government down. They leaked. They stopped taxes, customs, health. The ransom asked: $20 million. Costa Rica did not pay. The damage was still measured in weeks of a state at half speed.
For Medellín, Bogotá, Mexico City, the lesson is geographic. Ransomware does not need you to be NATO. It needs a careless Active Directory and a backup that was never restored.
The desk
The file is public. The briefing is requested.
AI and deep military intelligence. Medellín.