RECOPE (Refinadora Costarricense de Petroleo)

History

2024: Disabling all IT systems due to ransomware virus attack

In early December 2024, Costa Rica's state energy company turned to American experts for help, being attacked by a ransomware virus. Due to malfunctions, the company had to disconnect IT systems and switch to manual control.

Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo (RECOPE) imports, processes and distributes fossil fuels throughout the country, and operates a network of pipelines from the Caribbean to the Pacific coast. Due to the ransomware virus attack registered on November 27, RECOPE has to process all this data manually. The company said it was working with Costa Rica's Ministry of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications (MICITT) to resolve the situation and repeatedly sent messages on social media, dismissing rumors of fuel shortages.

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Unloading of fuel in our dock continues as usual. The vessels were accepted this morning with premium petrol, diesel and aviation fuel. In parallel, RECOPE continues to work with MICITT on the incident, the company said in a statement. - We confirm that RECOPE has enough inventory to meet fuel demand and guarantee service to our customers.

Carla Montero, president of RECOPE, said experts on the already cyber security USA profitable and began "gradually restoring some systems," but added that the company "still intends to manage the systems manually until process security is fully guaranteed." She also noted an increase in fuel sales due to rumors of gas and oil shortages and denied them, but the company extended opening hours over the weekend to make it easier to sell the fuel to concerned customers.^[1]

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