The State Bank of Chile (Banco Estado), the third largest bank in Chile and its only public bank, has shut all its branches after a ransomware attack over the weekend of Sept 5-6.
While the exact details of the attack are yet to be made public, multiple sources have credited the attack to be the work of the REvil - Sodinokibi - cybergang (famous for, among other things, demanding $42 million from US president Donald Trump in May 2020 for documents containing damaging information about him).
An investigation into the matter has led officials to believe the hackers accessed the bank's system overnight on Friday / Saturday after an employee had earlier opened a malicious file, which then installed a backdoor.
Banco Estado acknowledged the attack via a statement released on Twitter.
"So far our systems for customers (ATMs, app and website) have not been affected and are working," stated the bank, reassuring their clients. "We ask our clients to use digital channels for normal operations."
The bank also stated that "some of our platforms could present some type of interference" and noted that it had received complaints from customers about its online services.
The bank has remained tight-lipped about the details of any ransom demand.
