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Published on
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Hackers believed to be based in China infiltrated Costa Rican telecommunications and technology systems, according to the Costa Rican and U.S. governments. In a brief joint statement by the Costa Rican and United States governments, officials stated that U.S. cybersecurity experts working with Costa Rica recently completed a diagnosis of technical systems to improve the country's cybersecurity. The findings of these cybersecurity reviews indicated that "a cybercriminal group based in China infiltrated Costa Rica's telecommunications and technology systems," authorities noted. "The United States reaffirms its commitment to supporting Costa Rica in its fight against these threats and the defense of its sovereignty," the U.S. Embassy added in its statement. In response the Chinese government, through its embassy in Costa Rica stated that it firmly opposes "the U.S. smear campaign against China's image and its interference in China-Costa Rica relations to serve its own purposes." Earlier this month, two governmental organizations, the Costa Rica Oil Company (Recope) and the General Directorate of Migration, disclosed that hackers broke their cybersecurity systems.
Last
week, Costa Rica initiated a fraud
criminal prosecution against the Chinese
company Huawei and
its Costa Rican representative, a male
surnamed Peng, among other top executives,
for alleged fraud agreements.
In
2022, a ransomware assault affected
approximately 30 government agencies,
including the Ministry of Finance, the
Ministry of Science, the National
Meteorological Institute, state internet
service provider RACSA, the Social
Security and the
Ministry of Labor, among many others.
That
year, Costa Rica stated that the
pro-Russian Conti Group claimed
responsibility for those cyber attacks and
sought a $10 million ransom in return for
refusing to release the stolen sensitive
information.
The
government did not pay the hackers and
instead invested more than $25 million in
strengthening its cyber security measures.
That
year, the U.S. Department of State was
offering a reward for
information leading to the identification
and/or location of any individual(s) who
hold a key leadership position in the
Conti ransomware variant transnational
organized crime group.
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