Cyber Incident Victim: Argentine Federal Police
Date:
Aug 2019
Location:
Argentina
Summary
Hackers compromised sensitive government data from the Argentine Federal Police, leaking 700 GB of confidential documents, wiretaps, biometric records, and officers' personal information. The breach extended to the compromise of a naval agency's Twitter account, which was exploited to disseminate links to the stolen data and propagate fabricated claims of a British military incursion. The incident exposed critical law enforcement information and facilitated disinformation campaigns, though it received limited public attention despite the severity of the exposed data.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 2 motives | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On August 12, 2019, hackers executed a significant breach of Argentine government systems, exfiltrating and publicly leaking approximately 700 GB of highly sensitive data. The compromised information originated from multiple government entities, with the Argentine Federal Police suffering the most severe exposure. Stolen police data included confidential operational documents, intercepted communications from wiretaps, biometric identification records, and personal information of police officers. This breach represented a substantial compromise of law enforcement intelligence capabilities and personnel security. Simultaneously, attackers compromised the official Twitter account of the Argentine Naval Prefecture, a separate maritime security force. The hackers weaponized this account to disseminate download links to the stolen data repositories while amplifying the breach's visibility through coordinated social media activity. The scale and sensitivity of the leaked materials created immediate operational security concerns for ongoing investigations and undercover operations conducted by federal police units.
The attackers further exploited the Naval Prefecture's Twitter platform to spread fabricated claims about a British military attack on Argentine naval vessels—a deliberate disinformation campaign designed to escalate geopolitical tensions. This false narrative circulated alongside authentic data leaks, complicating public discernment between legitimate breaches and malicious fiction. The breach exposed systemic vulnerabilities in Argentina's government data infrastructure, particularly within law enforcement networks housing highly classified materials. No immediate containment measures or technical responses from affected agencies were documented in available reports. The incident received limited domestic public attention despite its severity, with minimal documented reactions from government officials regarding remediation efforts or policy changes. The combination of authentic data exposure and coordinated disinformation represented a hybrid threat to both national security infrastructure and public information integrity.