The Ministry of Health confirmed this Monday, April 13, a computer security incident that partially affected equipment at the National Health Laboratory, without evidence of unauthorized access to sensitive data.
According to the portfolio, the event was immediately contained after the activation of institutional protocols, which made it possible to maintain the continuity of operations by restoring backups and applying corrective measures on the affected computers.
According to the technical evaluation, the incident was limited to the encryption of internal files, which were recovered. The authorities assured that there was no violation of information about patients, users or entities.
As a preventive measure, the Ministry of Health reported that it reinforced security controls, including system updates, access review and strengthening protocols.
According to the health highway, these actions caused temporary interruptions in some processes and in the web platform, which continues to be reviewed before being restored.
The institution indicated that it maintains permanent monitoring of the situation and reiterated that services operate normally.
This event occurs days after another incident that affected a state agency. On April 10, the Guatemalan Army reported an external intrusion on the portal of the General Directorate of Arms and Ammunition Control (Digecam), which compromised information from private users, armories and institutions, such as the Ministry of the Interior.
Julio Taracena, commander of the Guatemalan Army Communications Brigade, explained that the denial of service attack lasted 13 hours on April 7, allowing a criminal group to obtain credentials and extract stored data using a bot.
Although the origin of the attackers has not been specified, the Public Ministry (MP) is investigating whether it is an international structure.
Unofficial versions indicate the theft of 30 gigabytes (GB) of information, including data of about 22,000 users, more than 60,000 weapons and about 52,500 certificates. However, Taracena indicated that the preliminary report establishes the download of no more than 5 GB.
Army authorities have indicated that they will implement new cybersecurity measures, such as two-factor authentication, to reinforce the protection of the systems.
With information from EFE
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