The Brazilian government has revealed that the country’s National Treasury was hit by a ransomware attack on Friday last week.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance immediately responded to the situation. According to initial assessments, the cyberattack did not damage the systems of the National Treasury. Its platforms, such as the platforms relating to public debt administration, are working normally.
The attack did not affect the operations of Tesouro Direto, which enables individuals to buy government bonds, according to a statement released jointly with the Brazilian Stock Exchange.
The National Treasury and the Digital Government Secretariat (DGS) are assessing the full impact of the ransomware attack. The incident was also reported to the Federal Police. The Ministry state that any new details would be disclosed “in a timely manner and with due transparency.”
At this time, there is no additional information available, it is unknown what threat actor was behind the attack nor how they breached the Treasury’s systems.
This incident was preceded by a major cyberattack on the Brazilian Superior Electoral Court in November 2020. It was called the most comprehensive attack ever orchestrated against a Brazilian public sector institution. At the time, the Court’s systems remained knocked down for over two weeks.
In July this year, the Brazilian government created a cyberattack response network to improve the response against cybercrimes. The Digital Government Secretariat (DGS) will have a strategic role in the establishment of the network.
In 2021, Brazil saw a spike in cybercrime, and various companies were hit by ransomware attacks. Some targets included healthcare firms, aerospace companies, and financial institutions.
