The online tax collection system used by Costa Ricans has recently been hacked. The country's Ministry of Finance's network is now down and taxpayers now have no choice but to pay their taxes by hand.
Costa Rican Government Hit by Cyberattack
The Ministry of Finace is just one of several Costa Rican government agencies that has been compromised in the cyberattack. According to the story by NBC News, Conti, an international cybercriminal gang has been demanding the agencies to pay ransom since April.
The cybercriminal gang will only allow the agencies operational again once they have paid the demanded ransom. President Rodrigo Chaves, the country's brand new leader, has even announced a state of emergency.
President of Costa Rica Declares State of Emergency After Recently Being Sworn In
The state of emergency declaration was made just recently after the new leader was sworn in. NBC News notes that ransomware attacks have become more and more common as of late.
It was said that cybercriminals usually attack businesses and "smaller government organizations" during periods wherein they would be incentivized to pay. The publication notes that these shutdowns would usually happen at a time where the results would come at a high cost.
Estimated $600 was Lost to Ransomware Attacks in the US in 2021
Emsisoft, a cybersecurity firm, estimated that over $600 million is the cost of these ransomware attacks in the US alone in 2021.
The recent attack on the government of Costa Rica, however, is said to be the "largest known single criminal ransomware attack to date" made directly against one's country's government.
Citizens Now have to Manually Download and File the EDDI7 Program
As detailed in Tico Times, an online system is usually used by Costa Ricans in order to pay their taxes. The payment system remains inoperable due to the Ministry of Finance networks being down.
Due to the incident, the country even decided to delay certain deadlines until August of this year. They are, however, still collecting VAT on imports and sales which allow them a little bit of tax inflow.
Citizens are now being instructed to download the EDDI7 program to fill their tax information. They are then required to print the form out and physically pay their taxes at a government-approved bank.
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EDDI7 Caused Problems for Mac Users
The EDDI7, however, only works on a Windows Operating system making it inaccessible or at least inconvenient for Apple users. As per El Financiero, the system resulted in customers waiting hours just to pay their taxes.
A San José photographer Alex Vargas said that he uses Macs for his office. This led him to take his business filings at home in order to use the EDDI7. This took him a day of traveling to and from an approved bank due to the fact that his local bank "wasn't authorized to collect the VAT.
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Written by Urian B.
