Costa Rica has been battling against ransomware for the last two months. Early in new president Rodrigo Chaves’s term, an initial wave of ransomware took down several key government systems. In early June, a second wave of attacks targeted the country’s health system – leading to Chaves implementing an official state of emergency. The gang behind the incident, Conti, has launched several high-profile attacks on various sectors, including healthcare. But this is the first time a government has been publicly held to ransom. Half of the healthcare system’s 1,500 servers were affected, meaning over 34,000 appointments have been delayed, with staff left working from discontinued paper forms.
