The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) was hit by a ransomware attack last month that is now attributed to Russian hackers.
The CSIC is a state organization for scientific research and technological development that belongs to the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, but with a special status in that it has "its own assets and fund, operational and managerial autonomy.".
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Most centers are still disconnected
In a statement on Tuesday, the agency said the ransomware attack occurred over the weekend of July 16-17 and was detected on Monday, July 18.
Immediately after the intrusion was detected, the protocol was activated by the Cybersecurity Operations Center (COCS) and the National Cryptologic Center (CCN).
The agency notes that it followed protocol and isolated several of its research centers from the network in an effort to control the attack and prevent spread to departments that were not directly affected.
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At present, most of the agency's centers still offline and unavailable, with just over 25% of them online.
The CSIC did not say whether any of its systems were encrypted. The investigation into the incident is ongoing, but the team found no evidence that the attacker stole sensitive or confidential information.
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Experts have pointed out that the cyberattack came from a Russian threat actor. While it is not entirely clear, the agency seems to indicate that the attack was the work of a hacking group.
Information source: leepingcomputer.com
