Venezuelan Minister for Science and Technology Gabriela Jiménez reported in addition to the transmission system of the National Electoral Council (CNE), 126 digital platforms of the Venezuelan state have suffered cyberattacks in the last three weeks.
“Since July 28, we have suffered an unprecedented attack on the digital platforms of the state—unprecedented in terms of the sophistication of the technologies and the dimension and volume of the attacks,” Jiménez said during the program Con Maduro+ on Monday, August 19.
She also reported that on Thursday and Friday of last week, there were cyberattack attempts on the platform of the National Admission System of the Ministry of University Education (SNI). The attacks aimed to alter the allocation of seats for more than 360,000 high school graduates of the country.
“Similarly, on Thursday and Friday, there were attacks on the Federal Council of Government and the Caracas Stock Exchange,” she added. “The attacks have struck sensitive structures of the state and public and private services. They seek to affect daily life.”
Minister Jiménez remarked that the cyberattacks appear to be well planned and employ sophisticated technological tools. The attacks have also affected internet services throughout the country.
30 million attacks per minute
The minister also showed lists of the cyberattacks on internet connections that are provided by the US company that provides the service to the Venezuelan state-owned internet service CANTV.
“The company, Columbus, communicated with CANTV and reported an increase in the traffic, which worried them because it is not common,” Jiménez said.
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She reported that the IP traces of the attacks come from the United States, Mexico, France, and Switzerland and that they are carried out from bot farms. This minister noted that, at times, up to 30 million attacks per minute were reported.
She added that three international service providers of links to CANTV were affected on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of last week. “They have carried out falsifications of our IP links, duplication of links, reconfiguration of the portals,” she explained. “They have also hijacked information from our portals. Conviasa’s payroll, for example, was published on social media.”
Hundreds of thousands of ordinary Venezuelans have been affected by these attacks, as they have been unable to carry out online governmental procedures such as renewal of driving licenses, updating of documents, certification of criminal records, etc., since the web pages that offer these services have been the target of cyberattacks. The hacking group Anonymous has publicly claimed responsibility for these attacks. This has been applauded by some within the Venezuelan opposition, who, at the same time, have referred to the government’s complaints of cyberattacks as false.
Open-source software is the solution
When asked by President Nicolás Maduro about “how to protect the country’s important data” from cyberattacks, Minister Jiménez highlighted the need for countries such as Venezuela to build their own platforms with open-source software “that will let us protect ourselves from these viruses.”
She added that there is a group of at least 200 professionals dedicated to work of this type who are being assisted by “international cooperation.”
She further stated that the Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky confirmed that Venezuela was the most cyberattacked country in South America during the last week of July and the first week of August.
Featured image: Minister of Science and Technology of Venezuela, Gabriela Jiménez. Photo: X/@Gabrielasjr.
(Alba Ciudad) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/SL
