Uruguay’s BHU Spent $12 Million on Cyberattack Recovery and Says It Paid No Ransom
Summary
Uruguay’s BHU says a September cyberattack cost $12 million in remediation and system reconstruction. The attack disrupted services, and attackers claimed to have stolen data; documents including employee credentials were later published. The bank says it paid no ransom
Key points
- BHU officials told a parliamentary committee the attack incurred an estimated $12 million in direct costs, including remediation, forensic analysis, system reconstruction and security-protocol changes.
- The September 30 attack led the bank to shut down its institutional network and other communications, causing payment problems that were resolved weeks later.
- Attackers claimed to have more than 700 GB of data and later published documents reportedly including employee usernames and passwords, supplier contracts, and legal and credit reports.
- BHU’s president said the bank paid no ransom and that clients suffered no economic harm; these are statements by bank officials.
- The bank’s IT manager said validation systems were used to check that information had not been compromised or infected.
- BHU has classified its handling of the incident as reserved for 15 years.
Article Details
- Victim Organization
- Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay (BHU)
- Incident Type
- Cyberattack; the attackers reportedly threatened to publish information and later published documents.
- Data Types Exposed
- Employee usernames and passwords
- Supplier contracts
- Legal reports
- Credit reports
- Affected Data Size
- The attackers claimed to have more than 700 gigabytes of data; the amount actually compromised is not confirmed.
- Operational Impact
- BHU took its institutional network and other internal and external communication channels offline. This caused payment problems and interruptions that were resolved weeks later. BHU reported no economic harm to clients or problems with clients.
- Ransom Or Extortion
- The attackers reportedly set a 10-day deadline before beginning to publish information, and publication subsequently occurred. BHU officials said no ransom was paid and no communication took place.
- Claim Status
- confirmed
People
Bernardo UretaBHU Information Technology division manager; said validation systems were applied to check whether information had been compromised or contained the virus.Gabriel FrugoniBHU president; said the bank did not pay a ransom and had no communication with the attackers.Juan Pablo DelgadoDeputy who initiated the committee hearing concerning BHU’s handling of the incident.Laura ZuninoBHU Risk Area manager; told a legislative committee that incident-related costs were estimated at about $12 million.