A cyberattack puts the Chilean Judiciary on alert

A court hearing in Temuco, in the Araucanía region of southern Chile.

The computer system of the Chilean Judiciary has suffered a cyberattack on 150 of its computers on Monday, equivalent to 1% of the network's equipment, according to the first preliminary count.

The virus (malware) called CryptoLocker spreads, locks files on the affected computer, and then often asks for a financial reward in virtual currency to restore data.

The situation set off alarms just a week after the leak of almost 400,000 emails from the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces, a body that advises the Ministry of National Defense due to a hack that is being investigated.

First thing in the morning, the Judiciary issued a computer alert directed at officials not to open or read emails or messages "of dubious origin" and to be "skeptical about incredible offers, promotions or prizes offered online." .

The warning came from a virus that had affected computers with Windows 7 and McAfee antivirus.

Some 3,500 of the 14,990 computers on the network have this system, so the news altered the routine of many employees.

Some judges were even forced to hold hearings scheduled by Zoom through his mobile phones.

"During the day a virus was activated in the Court of Appeals of Santiago and also in other jurisdictions, which infiltrates the Judicial Branch network and renders both the court's equipment and personal equipment unusable," reported the computer department of the institution.

"This virus does not attack judicial processing systems or emails, but it can encrypt the personal information contained in the computer," the Judiciary explained in a statement.

The Information Technology Department of the Administrative Corporation of the Judicial Power (CAPJ) reported in mid-afternoon that, after carrying out a national search, they identified 150 compromised computers.

"These computers cannot access the network and we are changing the antivirus," said the deputy director of the CAPJ, Zvonimir Koporcic, who added that the virus attacks file folders located on the computers and not computer systems such as those of processing or the Office Virtual Court.

In addition, he pointed out that computer units throughout the country were replacing the affected equipment so that the courts could resume their work.

Last Monday, September 19, the international

group named Guacamaya leaked 10 terabytes of documents, where information related to the military and police forces of five countries in Central and South America appears.

The massive publication prompted the departure of the Chilean Chief of Staff, Guillermo Paiva, and opened an in-depth investigation to determine to what extent the published material could compromise international relations and internal security.

“This information is known, the hacked material, precisely on the Day of the Glories of the Army, when the president [Gabriel Boric] flies to the United Nations.

It doesn't seem so casual," Interior Minister Carolina Tohá said on Sunday.

political program

that the Government still has a complete analysis of the hack, but that with what has been collected so far, they already know that it is information that, “without a doubt, should never have reached public hands as it is. doing these days."

The National Defense Commission of the Congress discusses the first guidelines of a Framework Law on Cybersecurity and Critical Information Infrastructure, which contemplates the creation of the National Cybersecurity Agency and the National Computer Security Incident Response Team (National CSIRT) , among other services to combat cybersecurity incidents.

Subscribe here to the

newsletter and receive all the key information on current affairs in the region.