Hackers Closed Argentina’s Borders With $4M BTC Ransom Demand

Hackers closed Argentina’s borders after they launched their attack demanding Bitcoin payments as we are reading more in today’s bitcoin news.

The ransomware attack by cybercriminals will be stopped once the government pays a Bitcoin ransomware of $4 million in Bitcoin. The hackers closed the borders of the country by slowing down the immigration offices and control pools for four hours. The attackers were later identified by authorities as NetWalker which is a ransom operation that targets government or corporate computer networks. Argentina’s immigration agency was the victim this time in an attack that stopped the border crossings as the hackers demanded $4 million in BTC.

Argentina's immigration agency, Dirección Nacional de Migraciones, suffered a Netwalker ransomware attack. To prevent further spread, the agency shut down their network.

— BleepingComputer (@BleepinComputer) September 6, 2020

The attack was reported initially by the Argentinean government to the cybercrime agency of the country after multiple calls from border checkpoints suggests that their computer networks are compromised according to reports by Bleeping Computers. Border authorities found that their computer systems with their Microsoft applications and shared folders were hit by an unidentified virus. They took immediate action and shut down a few servers to prevent their virus from spreading to other systems.

As a result, all Argentinean immigration officers and control posts were out of service for four hours until they were brought online again:

“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 attackers were identified later by authorities as NetWalker with their usual pattern of attack by encryption or passwording all applications on the computers. The ransom is then demanded in return for the password. The hackers who attacked the immigration agency of Argentina flashed a payment message leading to a Tor network page demanding $2 million in BTC as a ransom. The figure was changed to $4 million in seven days which is about 355 BTC at the time.

The officials however said they will not be negotiating with hackers and that they are not concerned about the data leak. The report noted that while cyberattacks against local businesses and administrators are common targets, one of Argentina’s largest telecom companies was hit with a ransomware attack back in July. Ransomware boomed in the past few years as the hackers are demanding payments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The analysis suggests that the costs of a ransom attack on companies reach about $170 billion per year.