Colombia’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies (MinTIC) will publish daily reports on the cybersecurity work being carried out around the June 21 presidential runoff, posting the summaries at the end of each day on its account on X, formerly Twitter.

The reports cover the activities of the entities that make up the Cyber Unified Command Post (Puesto de Mando Unificado Cibernético, or PMU), among them MinTIC, Colombia’s Cyber Emergency Response Group (ColCERT), the Policía Nacional, and other bodies involved in monitoring and protecting the country’s digital infrastructure. MinTIC said the aim is to strengthen institutional transparency and keep the public informed about the cybersecurity capabilities activated to support the electoral process.

“Our commitment is to report in a timely and transparent way on the actions being taken to protect this coming Sunday’s elections. These reports will allow citizens to learn about the work we are doing through the Cyber Unified Command Post to prevent risks, respond to any contingency, and promote a digital conversation based on verified information,” said Carina Murcia, the minister of information and communications technologies.

According to MinTIC, the PMU maintains continuous monitoring of platforms, digital services, and strategic technology infrastructure, working with national entities and telecommunications operators. The published information will also describe actions taken to prevent incidents, counter disinformation, and promote safe digital environments.

The reports will include recommendations to the public on preventing digital violence and avoiding the spread of false or misleading information. MinTIC said it will post one report per day through Saturday, and on Sunday it will publish updates every hour starting at 8:00 a.m.

The runoff follows the May 31 first round, in which no candidate won an outright majority. It pits leftist senator Iván Cepeda against conservative candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, with the winner due to take office on August 7.

In public comments, Saul Kattan, a technology advisor to the president, explained that a health crisis could be triggered in the country since the criminals blocked access to crucial medical information for medical staff that would put the health system in check. For example, access to file online complaints for lack of healthcare or emergency care was restricted.

IFX, which is headquartered in Florida and has operating contracts with dozens of public entities, stated that it will file a complaint with the office of the attorney general.

The company released an official statement on September 12 informing that on that day, at 5:00 am, “the cloud of the multinational provider for telecommunications services, IFX Networks, with operations in 17 countries in the region, suffered an external cybersecurity attack of the ransomware type, affecting some of its virtual machines.”

The CSIRT (Cyber Security Incident Response Team) and the Cyber Emergency Response Group of Colombia (ColCERT) have received communication from more than 50 public and private organizations nationwide, expressing their involvement in the attack and requesting support from the competent authorities.

In this way, 50 are some of those affected by the suspension of the service, which began on Tuesday, September 13. Alejandro Navarro, a cybersecurity expert, told El País América that “a company usually takes a month to be restored after an attack of this kind”. However, he warns of the possibility that the consequences could last from three to six months.

Colombia’s top judicial entity was one of the most affected entities released a statement: “According to the information provided by the contractor, it is not possible to restore the service immediately and in order to ensure access and services for the administration of justice, due process and other procedural guarantees, the Superior Council of the Judiciary considers it necessary to suspend the judicial terms, except for tutela actions, habeas corpus and the function of control of guarantees in the national territory.”

The Unified Command Post (PMU) informed the public that technical support has been received from more than 30 national and international companies to redouble efforts, after the impact generated by the cyber-attack, which so far does not specify the number of companies and entities affected, but it is believed that there are at least 50.

Although it is not yet possible to confirm the perpetrators of this attack, as there is no conclusive evidence, the attack seems to be related to the Ransomware of the self-styled group “RansomHouse.”