As often said in many American movies, the United States does not negotiate with terrorists.
The assertion worked for Southern American Argentina recently. The country was held to ransom by some cyberthieves, however, authorities handled the situation without fault.
Argentina’s national migration agency was forced to shut down operations as the result of a cyberthief attack This lasted until control of computer networks and data of the offices were re-established.
The cyberthieves – after gaining control of encrypted files – ransomed the data in exchange for Bitcoin for their safe return to the governmental body.
“Pay in Bitcoin or pay in lost data” appeared to be the motto of the cyberthieves. The country, however, resisted and refused to indulge the act of terrorism.
Reportedly, the attack was contained, according to regulators.
What happened? Argentina vs Cyberthieves
Argentina’s National Directorate of Migration, in a statement published last month, revealed that they were under a cyber attack. In addition to this, they explained that some of their services had been disrupted including border control.
The national directorate explained that the Integrated Migration Capture System (SICaM) – used to facilitate international crossings – was “particularly affected” by the attack. It was affected to the extent that it caused disruption to entries and exits in and out of the country.
However, they said that the critical infrastructures of the agency were not so affected. The hackers were unable to access the personal or corporate information managed by them.
Authorities are still investigating the attack to discover the source and those behind it. Local reports in Argentina, however, have said the attack was conducted by a group of Netwalker ransomware hackers.
Reportedly, other threats were also sent to the Migration directorates instructing them not to try and decrypt the files. This was instructed out of concern that they might be damaged and made impossible to recover.
Previous cyber attacks on government bodies
This attack on Argentina’s National Directorate of Migration does not mark the first cyber attack on a governmental body. Previously countries like Norway, the US, and Canada have all been attacked under similar circumstances.
Weeks back, Norway’s Parliament announced they were subject to a cyber attack. In the process, email accounts of staffs and members of the Norway’s Labor Party were hacked.
The US are also currently investigating interference in their coming election by Russians.
