2025 Paraguay ransomware attack

Last updated
2025 Paraguay ransomware attack
Date11 June 2025
Location Paraguay
Type Cyberattack
Theme Ransomware encrypting files with US$ 7.4 million demand
OutcomeData leaked online, with the government denying it was hacked

On 11 June 2025, an international hacker group called Brigada Cyber PC supposedly hacked several Paraguayan Government agencies, asking for a ransom of roughly 1 dollar per citizen.

Contents

The Government denied paying the ransom and the data was leaked online on the 13th. According to the government the attack was not real, with the data being gathered from previous ransomware attacks.

Attack

On 11 June 2025, a hacker group called Brigada Cyber PC posted on a darknet forum darkforums.st that they stole data from every Paraguayan and threatened to post it online unless the Government paid US$7.4 Million, about one dollar per citizen, up until a timer reached zero, on the 13th. [1] [2] [3]

The Government was hacked by two other international hacker groups, Leaker and CyberTeam, on a spawn of only three months. [4]

Reactions

The Government was warned about the attack by the American company Resecurity. [5]

On the same day, the Government denied that the group has hacked the Government, affirming that the data was collected on previous ransomware attacks. [1]

The Minister of Technology and Information Gustavo Villate declared to Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) that "the Government never negociate with this type of actors". [1] The Ministry also began investigating new security breaches of the governmental systems. [2]

Leakage

Hours after the timer reached zero, the data was leaked online. It included data harverested from at least 18 Governmental agencies, including the National Traffic Agency, the Cordillera Department, the Presidency of the Republic, and the Ministries of Public Health, Justice, Education and Agriculture. [2] [6] The data was published on three different files. [7]

Gustavo Villate declared that indeed the data published was collected on previous leakages, as it didn't coincide with the official governmental databases, and there was data from more people than the population of the country. [8] Data from 7.4 million people was leaked, while the Paraguayan population on the last sensus was of 6 million people. [9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Hackers extorsionan al Gobierno de Paraguay y piden millonario monto para no revelar datos de ciudadanos". Última Hora (in Spanish). 12 June 2025. Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 "Hackers cumplen ameaza y filtran datos de 7.5 milliones de ciudadanos paraguayos". Diario Vanguardia (in Spanish). 13 June 2025. Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  3. "Mañana vence plazo de extorsión de hackers y Gobierno reafirma que no cederá". ABC Color (in Spanish). 12 June 2025. Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  4. "Hackers dicen que desean invadir 100% al Gobierno". Última Hora (in Spanish). 30 June 2025. Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  5. "Ciberdelincuentes amenazan con filtrar datos de toda la población paraguaya". Oviedo Press (in Spanish). 12 June 2025. Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  6. "Ransomware amenaza nuestra soberanía". El Nacional (in Spanish). 15 June 2025. Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  7. "Hackers cumplen amenaza y publican datos de ciudadanos paraguayos". Última Hora (in Spanish). 13 June 2025. Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  8. "Hackers liberan datos de millones de paraguayos". El Paraguayo Independente (in Spanish). 14 June 2025. Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  9. "Amenaza de hackers: Gobierno afirma que serían viejas filtraciones y no tendrían datos sensibles". Última Hora (in Spanish). 13 June 2025. Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.