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Not long ago, Costa Rica was in the headlines of the international media due to a massive cyber attack on government structures, the consequences of which are still being felt.
Security experts hailed the attack by the group known as Conti, which is suspected of having links to Russia, as the start of a new era in cyberspace after it put the country under a state of emergency and paralyzed the entire utility system. The state lost $38 million every day it was under attack.
The newly elected president at the time, Rodrigo Chaves, appeared at a conference and said: We are at war and this is not an exaggeration. On April 17, 2022, Costa Rica fell victim to large-scale attacks known as ransomware, a type of software designed to freeze a computer system until a sum of money is paid.
The hackers initially targeted the country’s Ministry of Finance, at the time, Conti demanded a $10 million ransom, which the government refused to pay while still under the presidency of Carlos Alvarado Quesada. Then by May 16, when it was confirmed that the number of institutions in Costa Rica affected had increased to 27, Conti doubled the request to $20 million.
The hacker group repeatedly messaged citizens to pressure their government to pay the amount demanded and that they had until May 23, or they would continue to delete the recovery keys, leaving the government and people stranded. In a pinch, the president of Costa Rica turned to his counterpart Joe Biden for help.
The US has since provided ongoing technical assistance through its Cyber Security Agency to stop the attacks, and on May 19 announced that it had stopped the attacks. Meanwhile, some of the group’s members were exposed with their online conversations defending Russia’s war in Ukraine. The US has issued arrest warrants. Conti has hit over 1,000 targets and received more than $150 million in payoffs in the past two years, according to FBI estimates.
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