Puerto Rico was hit by a major cyberattack

Puerto Rico’s Senate announced that is was it by a cyberattack that shut down its internet provider, phone system and official online page.

The Senate of Puerto Rico announced this week that it was hit by a major cyberattack that disabled its internet provider, phone system and official online page. Local and federal authorities are investigating the attack.

According to Senate President José Luis Dalmau, there is no evidence that threat actors were able to access sensitive information belonging to employees, contractors or consultants.

This isn’t the first time that Puerto Rico was hit by a cyber attack in recent years.

In March 2021, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) power utility confirmed early this week that it has been hacked over the weekend.

In June 2021, a large fire at the Luma’s Monacillo electrical substation in San Juan for Puerto Rico’s new electricity provider, Luma Energy, caused major blackouts across Puerto Rico on Thursday. The same day the blackout took place, the company announced that a major DDoS attack disrupted its online services.

It is still unclear whether the fire and DDoS attack are connected.

In October 2020, Puerto Rico’s firefighting department disclosed a security breach, hackers breached its database and demanded a $600,000 ransom.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, cyberattack)