The cybersecurity sector has shaken again in Spain. As you have probably already heard, The Trinity hacker group has dropped a bomb: they claim to have stolen 560 GB of data from the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT) and threaten to publish it on December 31 if they do not receive a ransom of 38 million euros.
As expected, all the alerts have gone off and this news has made millions of citizens tremble, putting on the table, once again, the doubt of how safe Spanish institutions are against cyber attacks.
Although the AEAT claims to be “evaluating the situation” and has not detected problems so far, the threat cannot be taken lightly. Trinity has posted an image on the dark web that backs up what they say, although they have not given details about the content of the supposedly stolen data.
But, who are they really? What are the intentions of this group of hackers? What is your background in cyber attacks?
What is Trinity and what reasons do they have for attacking the Spanish Tax Agency?
What is known about Trinity is quite concise, since they operate from the dark web and maintain a high level of anonymity. They are way of working appears to be similar to other cybercriminal groups, such as NoName057: they attack high-profile targets, steal sensitive data and then threaten to publish it if a ransom is not paid.
Cybersecurity experts are closely following Trinity’s activities, trying to answer the big questions. Some speculate that it could be an old group that has changed its name to avoid detection, while others suggest that it could be a new player in the sector looking to gain a foothold and gain reputation.
The truth is that the ransomwarethe type of attack that Trinity appears to have used, has become a nightmare for companies and institutions around the world. It is malware kidnaps the victim’s data, encrypting it and demanding a ransom for its release. In 2024, we have already seen how companies such as Repsol, Telefónica and Banco Santander have been the target of these attacks, causing million-dollar losses and putting the privacy of millions of customers at risk.
With all this, the most worrying thing about this case is the nature of the data at stake. The Tax Agency has in its possession extremely sensitive information of practically all Spaniards, including bank accounts. If this data fell into the wrong hands, it could be used for all types of fraud and scams.
While everyone waits for more information about this case, one thing is clear: cybersecurity is no longer an option, but a vital necessity for society. The attack on the Tax Agency, whether real or not, makes it clear that at any time all your data could fall into the hands of others.
Get to know how we work in NoticiasVE.
Tags: Malware, Spain, Treasury, Cybersecurity