A considerable number of Colombia’s most notable government departments are now coordinating their responses to a ransomware attack, which is requiring authorities to make major adjustments to their operating procedures. This week, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, the country’s Judiciary Branch, and the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce said that a cyberattack on the technology provider IFX Networks Colombia had produced a variety of difficulties that limited the capacity of both ministries to operate. The problems were caused by the cyberattack on IFX Networks Colombia.
After being informed by IFX Networks on Tuesday that there were difficulties impacting their data center, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection said on Wednesday that it started experiencing troubles on Tuesday. The ministry has said that it is now in the process of creating alternate methods that would enable it to continue providing services to the health sector while minimizing the effect of the attack. The agency is responsible for formulating the guidelines that will govern the nation’s health care system, as well as promoting a variety of health programs and coordinating the efforts of diverse industry players to provide treatment to citizens.
Because of the attack on IFX, the Judicial Branch of the government displayed a banner on its website on Thursday evening indicating that the site was down and that services were unavailable as a result of the incident. Because of the incident, the highest court in the land decided to cancel all of the proceedings scheduled for September 14 through September 20.
Officials said in a lengthy letter that was shared on social media that their IT team identified the attack on September 12 and that it damaged the whole department’s cloud infrastructure. They highlighted that it was found by their IT staff. They were able to verify that IFX Networks had reported an attack with ransomware that had affected many devices. The majority of court hearings, certificates, accreditations, interim licenses, penalties, and more were among the services that were named in an official document that was signed on Thursday by the court. The document also stated the services that would be stopped.
There will still be certain in-person services and hearings that you may attend. In the event that IFX is able to resume normal operations prior to September 20th, the suspension order will be removed. On Friday, the court sent a follow-up statement informing the public that it is still working and that it would proceed with those sessions that had been arranged in advance.
The Superintendency of Industry and Commerce, which controls the country’s consumer rights institution and market competition organizations, released its own alerts stating that it was hit by the attack and halting certain activities until Friday. These warnings were published after the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce confirmed that it had been affected by the attack.
Other government offices have been reporting problems they have been having with technology to local news sources all week, and some residents have taken to social media to complain about problems they have been having working with government departments. According to El Pais’s reporting, the government is unaware of the exact number of organizations that have been impacted by the attack on IFX. An advisor to the president of the nation, Sal Kattan, referred to the attack as the “largest on infrastructure in Colombia in recent years” and lambasted the legislature of the country for failing to establish a new ministry that would concentrate on cybersecurity by a single vote.
Information security specialist, currently working as risk infrastructure specialist & investigator.
15 years of experience in risk and control process, security audit support, business continuity design and support, workgroup management and information security standards.