The International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) on Monday warned importers and exporters that their personal information may have been leaked when it experienced a ransomware attack in January.
The trading regulatory body said it delayed notifying the public of the attack because it had to investigate the security compromise and restore the integrity of its information systems. Also, it did not want to pre-empt the investigations into the incident.
ITAC said its IT team became aware on 2 January 2024 that “malicious actors” had encrypted files and locked users out of their systems and demanded a ransom in exchange for restoring access or decrypting their files.
ITAC’s servers hold personal information relating to its employees, service providers, importers, exporters, and other stakeholders.
After it became aware of the attack, ITAC said it immediately shut down the affected servers and restored backups of the data.
It upgraded its firewall and antivirus measures to “the highest possible security levels” and reported the security compromise to the relevant authorities for further investigation.
“We appointed a forensic service provider to conduct vulnerability and penetration testing to determine and close the gaps in our systems. The service provider will also undertake a comprehensive forensic investigation, to understand the nature and root cause of the security compromise, including the containment and recovery of our systems. The service provider will further assist us in ensuring that the remediation process is completed to prevent the reoccurrence of the security compromise,” ITAC said.
“We will continue to enhance data privacy and protection measures, such as implementing and increasing encryption and multi-factor authentication, and any additional technological measures our forensic service provider recommends, to address new risks to personal information.”
ITAC urged those at risk to remain on high alert and not disclose any information (including PINs or passwords) via phone, email, or text messages, avoid suspicious links, and not disclose any information during marketing calls.
ITAC is the latest state entity to fall victim to cybercriminals in recent months.
The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission was hacked in late February. The Government Pensions Administration Agency, which administers the Government Employees Pension Fund, was hit by ransomware attackers in the same month.
