Atento, a worldwide provider of business process outsourcing (BPO) and customer relationship management services, has been cyberattacked. Though the brunt of the damage occurred in Brazil, the company’s largest operation is in Latin America.
The local news website Neofeed disclosed that the company alerted its customers on Sunday about the cyberattack in its Brazil’s systems. It caused a service outage while the company attempted to control and analyze the danger.
In a letter to clients, Atento said its security team is working to limit the problem and ensure the security of the impacted environments before resuming service as soon as feasible.
Brazil is one of Atento’s most important international markets. More than 45 percent of the company’s worldwide workforce, which totals over 150,000 employees, is focused on the Brazilian operation. Bradesco and Itaú are among the major telecommunications firms and banks that it serves.
The BPO firm is the most recent Brazilian business targeted by hackers. Last week, Porto Seguro, one of Brazil’s major insurance companies, was hit by a hack that disrupted its service channels and parts of its systems.
CVC, a leading travel agency in the nation, is another firm attacked by hackers. It was struck by a ransomware operation earlier this month, which brought its activities to a halt.
According to a survey by consulting firm Marsh, 56 percent of Brazilian firms spend less than 10% of their IT budget on cybersecurity despite the rise in security risks. The study revealed that 52 percent of Brazilian companies indicated their security investments had remained unchanged since the pandemic began.
In terms of staff security procedures, just 23% of the Brazilian companies that took part in the research claimed their employees work with company-provided equipment. The survey further revealed that this behavior greatly enhanced vulnerability to a cyber event, yet remote access security is a priority for 12% of respondents and second for 7%.
