Ransomware Attack Halts Border Crossing for Four Hours in Argentina

In a rare occurrence, ransomware operators have managed to halt border crossing into and out of Argentina for four hours after infecting the National Direction of Migration with data-crippling malware. Government officials reportedly refused to negotiate with the hackers.

According to the country”s cybercrime agency, Unidad Fiscal Especializada en Ciberdelincuencia, government officials discovered the breach on August 27. IT reps immediately shut down the computer networks used by immigration offices. With the control posts shut down, border crossings were suspended for four hours while the servers were brought back online, Argentina”s Infobae news site reports.

“The Comprehensive Migration Capture System (SICaM) that operates in international crossings was particularly affected, which caused delays in entry and exit to the national territory,” the National Directorate of Migration (DNM) said.

Government officials went on record to state “they will not negotiate with hackers and neither they are too concerned with getting that data back.” Indeed, the country has refused to give in the to the hackers” demand of a $4 million ransom in Bitcoin.

The gang behind the attack is said to be Netwalker. After being twice refused their demand, the group now threatens to publish data stolen from Migraciones Argentina during this attack.