Dailyinformat
Connect with us

World

U.S. to Provide $25 Million to Costa Rica for Cybersecurity

Published

2 months ago

on


The U.S. will provide cybersecurity support to the government of Costa Rica, officials said, almost a year after a ransomware group laid siege to its critical infrastructure and triggered a state of emergency.

The State Department will commit $25 million to help build a security operations center within Costa Rica’s Ministry of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications to monitor cyber threats to government agencies and critical infrastructure, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday. The funds will also help Costa Rica with strategic and technical cyber planning, training, hardware and software licenses, the official said.

President Chaves declared a state of emergency in May 2022 after a ransomware attack.



Photo:

Carlos Gonzalez/Associated Press

“This funding is provided in response to a direct request from President Chaves to President Biden,” the official said.

The ransomware gang Conti attacked Costa Rican critical infrastructure and government institutions in April 2022, stealing data and defacing websites. Citizen services were hobbled for weeks. Then-newly elected President Rodrigo Chaves Robles declared a state of emergency in May.

The State Department offered rewards totaling $15 million for information leading to the arrest of the gang’s leaders or co-conspirators. The official said the U.S. government believes Costa Rica’s support for Ukraine may have been a factor in Conti’s attack, as the group previously expressed its support for the Russian government’s invasion.

Another ransomware group, Hive, claimed responsibility for further attacks in May, which targeted the Costa Rican Social Security Fund.

“At the time, we immediately deployed a team of U.S. experts to assist in Costa Rica’s recovery, and have been working closely with the country since then, and have recognized that this further stability, this further assistance is needed,” the official said.

The grant to Costa Rica follows similar efforts from the U.S. to assist Albania in recovering from a cyberattack, which the federal government has since linked to Iran. Tehran has denied involvement. 

In that instance, the U.S. provided an incident-response team from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and a further $25 million in funding to shore up defenses and aid with recovery efforts. The U.S. has provided similar assistance to countries such as Moldova in recent years.

The U.S. has attempted to build an international coalition to combat ransomware operators. Costa Rica has applied to join this initiative, which comprises 36 countries and the European Union, the official said. Current members will need to give their assent before the country is admitted.

Write to James Rundle at james.rundle@wsj.com

Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

World

Settlement Talks Prompt Delay Request in 3M ‘Forever Chemicals’ Trial

Published

4 hours ago

on

June 5, 2023

By


Attorneys for both sides in a landmark environmental battle set to begin Monday in federal court are seeking to delay the trial so they can work out the terms of a potential settlement, according to a court motion filed late Sunday.

Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Continue Reading

World

Evan Gershkovich and Our Brave New World

Published

12 hours ago

on

June 4, 2023

By


Mary Anastasia O’Grady writes “The Americas,” a weekly column on politics, economics and business in Latin America and Canada that appears every Monday in the Journal. Ms. O’Grady joined the paper in August 1995 and became a senior editorial page writer in December 1999. She was appointed an editorial board member in November 2005. She is also a member of the board of directors of the Indianapolis­-based Liberty Fund.

In 2012 Ms. O’Grady won the Walter Judd Freedom Award from The Fund for American Studies. In 2009 Ms. O’Grady received the Thomas Jefferson Award from The Association of Private Enterprise Education. In 2005 Ms. O’Grady won the Bastiat Prize for Journalism awarded by the International Policy Network for her articles on the World Bank, the underground economy in Brazil and the bad economic advice the U.S. often gives to Latin American countries. In 1997 Ms. O’Grady won the Inter American Press Association’s Daily Gleaner Award for editorial commentary.

Ms. O’Grady received a bachelor’s degree in English from Assumption College and an M.B.A. in financial management from Pace University.

Continue Reading

World

Climate Change Will Upend Agriculture. Here Are Five Technologies That Could Help.

Published

14 hours ago

on

June 4, 2023

By


Agriculture faces some daunting challenges from a changing climate in coming years, scientists project. Heavy rainfall is expected to become more frequent, with resulting erosion of soil decreasing available nutrients. Growing conditions are forecast to change regionally—with some places seeing a potentially longer growing season, but others seeing drier, colder ones. Disease-causing pests and insects are expected to expand their range.

Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Continue Reading

World

How Chinese Dissent Found Its Voice in New York City

Published

16 hours ago

on

June 4, 2023

By


A bloody shirt, ripped banners and other evidence of Beijing’s June 4, 1989, crackdown on students in Tiananmen Square went on display this week in New York City, in the latest action by Chinese political dissidents in the Big Apple.

Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Continue Reading

World

Forgoing an M.B.A. Gains Popularity in Private Equity

Published

20 hours ago

on

June 4, 2023

By


Soon after graduating from Boston College in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in finance, Lauren Wedell landed a job as an analyst at Chicago-based investment bank William Blair & Co. She subsequently joined technology-focused investment firm Battery Ventures in 2018 as an associate and has risen to vice president.

Wedell’s career trajectory within private equity has been typical in many ways but for one crucial decision: She said she had decided there was more value in gaining two years of deal-making experience than earning…

Continue Reading

World

Iowa Republican Gathering Features Roast Pig, Motorcycles—And a Growing 2024 Field

Published

1 day ago

on

June 4, 2023

By


By

John McCormick

DES MOINES, Iowa—A state fairgrounds stage Saturday showed just how crowded the

2024 Republican presidential field has become—even before three new entrants join next week—as candidates courted voters amid grilled pork, motorcycles and heated rhetoric.

Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Continue reading your article with
a WSJ subscription

Subscribe Now

Already a subscriber?

Sign In

Sponsored Offers

Continue Reading

World

 Sure, It’s Stylish. But This Pool House Was Built to Withstand a Hurricane

Published

2 days ago

on

June 3, 2023

By


By J.S. Marcus

After relocating to greater Miami from Chicago in 2018, a Florida couple made only minor adjustments to the interior of the five-bedroom home they purchased for $7.34 million. The backyard pool area of the Coral Gables property, on the other hand, needed work. The existing open-air gazebo, they decided, was nice to look at but wouldn’t get much use in a climate marked by heat, humidity and the threat of storms.

Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Continue Reading

World

Meet the Beetle a Car Museum Director Takes on Joy Rides

Published

2 days ago

on

June 3, 2023

By


By A.J. Baime | Photographs by Ethan Gulley for The Wall Street Journal

Terry L. Karges, executive director of the Petersen Automotive Museum, who lives in Santa Monica, Calif., on his 1962 Volkswagen Beetle, as told to A.J. Baime.

Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Continue Reading

World

What Engagement With China Has Meant for Me

Published

2 days ago

on

June 3, 2023

By


Over the past decade, the relationship between the U.S. and China has gone from a symbiotic embrace—“Chimerica,” as some academics called it—to an ominous mutual rejection. There is now a bipartisan consensus in Washington that the longstanding strategy of deepening economic ties with Beijing has failed. China’s leadership, in turn, increasingly sees the U.S. as an existential threat. In both countries, anyone arguing in favor of a softer line is seen as politically naive or worse.

Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Continue Reading

World

‘It’s Pretty Horrific but Fascinating Nonetheless.’ Inside the New Wave of Atomic Tourism.

Published

2 days ago

on

June 3, 2023

By


This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by
our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact
Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-atomic-tourism-c834b3f4

Continue Reading

Trending

Dailyinformat