Venezuela Ministry of Defense

The Venezuelan Ministry of Defense is the government entity responsible for national defense and military operations. It oversees the country's armed forces, formulates defense policy, and manages security operations under the jurisdiction of the Venezuelan state. Headquartered in Venezuela, the ministry maintains a public-facing website as a channel for official communications and information dissemination. Its core mandate encompasses the protection of national sovereignty and the administration of military personnel and resources.

In January 2017, the ministry's official website was compromised by a hacker using the alias Kapustkiy. The attack exploited an unpatched vulnerability, leading to the exposure of over 2,100 accounts containing sensitive personal and military data. Compromised information included names, contact details, family information, and service statuses of individuals linked to the defense sector. The attacker claimed the breach was a protest against President Nicolás Maduro's governance amid national unrest. Kapustkiy further indicated intentions to target additional Venezuelan government sites while pursuing broader global operations, citing the political situation as the primary motivator. At the time of reporting, the ministry had not publicly confirmed the incident or remediated the underlying vulnerability, leaving the security gap unaddressed.