MiOne of the major issues within Latin America is the prevalence of cyberattacks in the region. Latin America faces an outsized risk from cybercrime, and growing attacks year-over-year. Cybercrime has affected banks, company infrastructure, as well as government agencies.
Investors and companies in the region should be cautious about the potential risks of cybercrime within the area, especially concerning risk management and Executive Due Diligence. This involves assessing the security of employees and local partners, which is vital for the protection of important intellectual property.
Advanced Hacking Rings
Hacking rings pose a major issue throughout the world, partly because of Latin America’s growing determination to cybersecurity. This has not kept up with the rapid advancements in technology.
Intellectual property and personal data that are hacked by cyberattacks can be utilized to extort businesses, governments, and even individuals to make money, for blackmail or other political motives and are often distributed on through the dark web, offering information to other bad actors.
Several high-profile events have increased the issue of these problems over the last few years.
Regional Highlights
Costa Rica. In 2022, the Costa Rican government of Costa Rica suffered a weeks-long assault of ransomware by a Russian-based hacking organization. These attacks prompted to the Costa Rican president to declare a state of emergency following the attack, which affected the Costa Rican Treasury.
Brazil. Further to the south of Brazil, There are a few of the most advanced hacking groups actively target businesses as well as government agencies. Brazil’s citizens are particularly susceptible to cybercrime because of the large levels of Internet access, such as the use of mobile banking and E-commerce. However, no cybersecurity infrastructure or enforcement goes together with it.
Recently, there were reports of a huge leak of data that revealed the personal information of nearly 220 million deceased and living people. The data included the names of addresses, addresses, phone numbers, tax data, and salary information in addition to other data that affect nearly all Brazilian citizens.
Chile. The Chilean government has been subject to numerous cyberattacks in the past times, resulting in sensitive information as well as intelligence information leaks. The group known as ‘hacktivist’ Guacamaya is responsible for one of these attacks, which disclosed sensitive information related to military, defense, and police activities. Hacktivists from the local area have focused on mining companies from abroad as well as other businesses in order to gain political influence.
Mexico. In Mexico, hackers have targeted businesses, financial institutions as well as government agencies to address social or political grievances as well as earn money. Hacker groups within Mexico as well as across Latin America also contribute to the increasing level of organized crime. They have been linked to cartels, or recruited by them for economic and political gain.
Venezuela. Venezuela is also more prone to cybercrime because of the widespread economic and social ills as well as the inability to prosecute and pursue cyber criminals.
The widespread censorship by the government of the internet and other services has led to a surge in the demand for black market goods. The Venezuelan government also targets foreign companies with cyberattacks to serve reasons of geopolitics.
Venezuela has been a source of cybercriminals’ tools within the region. There has also been an increase in cyber-criminals coming from Russia as well as China that seek to undermine and disrupt the United States and its agenda in the Western hemisphere.
Cybercrime is a Target within Latin America
Every citizen, state, or firm within Latin America is at risk of falling victim to cybercrime. Cybercriminals have proven highly successful in their efforts in the following areas:
- Privacy-conscious citizens. As digital access grows, without a appropriate cybersecurity infrastructure or enforcer mechanisms, everyday citizens remain victimized by identity theft and scams.
- The financial institutions have been targeted extensively. Banking online is a huge business within Latin America, with Brazil with the highest number of users of online banking services than the United States and Western Europe. The smaller banks are at the highest danger.
- Government agencies. There have been many high-profile incidents of serious cyberattacks targeting government institutions including two previously mentioned. Cyberattacks on governments expose private information that is crucial to national defense and hinder government agencies from efficiently executing their tasks.
- Infrastructure specifically, especially the power infrastructure, is at risk of cyber attacks. As an example, Venezuela fell amid an extensive cyber attack on infrastructure in the year 2019, which resulted in massive blackouts. attacks on energy, as well as other infrastructures, could negatively impact the security of businesses and also the physical security of citizens and employees alike.
Incredibly Positive International Response
The lack of coordination between Latin American governments has led to an ineffective response to the rising instances of cybercrime. In many countries, the legislation that bans cybercrime is insufficient, as is the capacity to enforce the law.
Insufficient resources are available for cybercrime training and the creation of police forces is a common trend across the globe. The lack of international consensus and low dialog levels also have led to slow reaction to the issue.
What Does this Mean in the Eyes of Businesses and Investors
The security environment of Latin America poses significant risks as well as opportunities for both companies as well as investors.
Therefore, businesses seeking to conduct business with or with local businesses must do extensive due diligence investigation, including cybersecurity tests to determine the magnitude of hidden dangers prior to investing.
As well as establishing an effective security program to account for the risks of a particular country, training employees regarding the security of data, phishing, and various other cybersecurity indicators is a must.
There are also significant possibilities for cybersecurity businesses technology firms, as well as firms that focus on educational forums about internet safety and the norms. When Latin American governments come to an understanding of the issue of cybercrime it is likely to see an increase in spending on technology in order to counter and reduce the risk of cybercrime.
