Ransomware attack didn’t “structurally damage” Treasury Department

In a securities filing, the Treasury Department and B3 — which runs the São Paulo stock exchange — said a ransomware attack on the Treasury Department’s systems did not affect the platform running Brazil’s treasury bonds. In a joint statement, they said trading remains unaffected.

The Economy Ministry revealed during the weekend that its systems had been attacked by hackers on Friday, although an initial assessment found “no structural damage.” The government says “containment measures” were immediately applied and that the Federal Police is on the case.

A recent report by cybersecurity firm Apura Cyber Intelligence identifies Brazil as the world’s seventh-biggest target for ransomware attacks — when criminals steal data and demand ransom money to return it. 

Last year, the Health Ministry and the Superior Court of Justice — Brazil’s second-highest judicial body — were targeted. These separate attacks disrupted Covid-19 monitoring platforms for several days and stopped one of the busiest courts in Brazil from operating for more than a week. In both cases, the government claims backup data was retrieved without any issue, and systems were not disturbed.

In November 2020, hackers also tried to infiltrate the servers of electoral courts to disrupt vote-counting — an attempt that ultimately failed.

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