Cyber Incident Victim: Conselho Regional de Engenharia, Arquitetura e Agronomia do Estado de São Paulo
Date:
Dec 2022
Location:
Brazil
Summary
The Conselho Regional de Engenharia, Arquitetura e Agronomia do Estado de São Paulo (Crea-SP) experienced a cyberattack compromising part of its database and exposing professionals' personal information. The organization took primary systems offline as a security measure, engaged a specialized cybersecurity firm to address vulnerabilities and assess the breach scope, and reported the incident to federal authorities including the Federal Police and Digital Crimes Unit. A dedicated contact channel was established for affected individuals seeking clarification, while the entity's website remained inaccessible following the attack.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 3 motives | 2 techniques |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On or around late November 2022, the Conselho Regional de Engenharia, Arquitetura e Agronomia do Estado de São Paulo (Crea-SP) experienced a cyberattack compromising part of its database and exposing professional member data. The attack specifically targeted the notification delivery system within the organization’s application infrastructure. Crea-SP confirmed the breach in an official statement published on its website, which subsequently went offline following the incident. The organization promptly took its primary systems offline as a containment measure to prevent further unauthorized access or data exfiltration. Initial forensic efforts indicated that attackers successfully extracted sensitive information belonging to registered professionals, though the full scope of compromised records remained under investigation at the time of disclosure.
Crea-SP engaged a specialized cybersecurity firm to identify the exploited vulnerability, remediate the breach, and determine the extent of data exposure. The organization formally reported the incident to Brazil’s Federal Police and the Digital Crimes Division, initiating a coordinated law enforcement investigation. While restoration timelines were not specified, Crea-SP emphasized ongoing efforts to resolve the breach swiftly and restore system functionality. Impacted professionals were directed to contact the organization via a dedicated hotline (0800 017 18 11) for incident-related inquiries. The attack disrupted core operational systems, including public-facing platforms, and exposed personal and professional data of association members, though specific data categories were not detailed in the public advisory. Crea-SP acknowledged the breach’s severity and expressed regret over the incident while committing to transparency throughout the remediation process.