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The Ministry of Labor and Social Economy, MITES suffered a cyberattack. MITES is the ministerial department that has a €39 million annual budget and is charged with the coordination and supervision of Spain’s employment, social economy, and corporate social responsibility policies.
⚠️ El Ministerio de Trabajo y Economía Social se ha visto afectado por un ataque informático. Los responsables técnicos del Ministerio y del Centro Criptológico Nacional están trabajando de manera conjunta para determinar el origen y restablecer la normalidad lo antes posible.
— Ministerio Trabajo y Economía Social (@empleogob) June 9, 2021
The Importance of the Attack
MITES declared that they have been in fact affected by a computer attack and that the technical managers of the Ministry and the National Cryptological Center are working together in an attempt to determine the origin of the attack and also to make sure they are able to restore normality throughout its systems.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Economy has been affected by a computer attack.
The technical managers of the Ministry and the National Cryptological Center are working together to determine the origin and restore normality as soon as possible.
The ministry’s website is still up and running after the attack but both the communications office and the multimedia room are down, and the Spanish Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal (SEPE), which is a government agency part of MITES that was hit by ransomware in March declared that it was not affected by the cyberattack.
The computer attack that the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy has suffered has NOT affected the operation of the State Public Employment Service.
The Electronic Office, the website, and the set of services continue to be provided normally.
Not the First Attack Aimed at MITES
The latest cyberattack on MITES’ systems is coming just after a Ryuk ransomware attack that hit SEPE’s network took place three months ago, impacting more than 700 agency offices across Spain after Ryuk operators encrypted the agency’s network systems.
Ryuk is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) group that’s been active since August 2018 and is known for running a private affiliate program. In this program, affiliates can submit applications and resumes to apply for membership.
According to an announcement made on the agency’s website at the time, the ransomware also spread beyond SEPE’s workstations and reached the agency’s remote working staff’s laptops, as the systems got taken down following a ransomware attack affecting more than 700 agency offices across Spain, making hundreds of thousands of appointments made through the agency to be delayed all across Spain.
Gerardo Guitérrez, the director of SEPE confirmed then that the agency’s network systems were encrypted by Ryuk ransomware operators after the incident.
? «El ciberataque al @empleo_SEPE no ha afectado a la gestión de nóminas y prestaciones. Las personas con cita previa están siendo contactadas y se está trabajando para solucionar la situación cuanto antes».
? El director del SEPE, Gerado Guitérrez, en @BrujulaOndaCero. pic.twitter.com/W7LkUNcFjo
— Ministerio Trabajo y Economía Social (@empleogob) March 9, 2021
The director of SEPE also declared back then that personal data, payroll, and unemployment benefits were not affected after the ransomware attack.
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Dora is a digital marketing specialist within Heimdal™ Security. She is a content creator at heart - always curious about technology and passionate about finding out everything there is to know about cybersecurity.
