This fortnightly report by Control Risks highlights key incidents during the reporting period. We examine how these incidents play into the election interference trends we’re observing and their impact on Brazilian organisations and individuals.
Cyber interference and disinformation incidents
- Brazil, 05 February 2025 Brazil will no longer receive support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) due to the dismantling of the agency. Support will be removed from Brazil’s rainforest conservation efforts. In 2024, USAID provided USD 22.6m to Brazil, with approximately USD 14m directed to environmental protection. According to some posts on X, users claim that USAID was providing corrupt supreme court judges in Brazil with funding to promote disinformation campaigns to sway elections. Such posts started circulating when the US announced the dissolution of USAID.
Implications: environmentally motivated cyber activist groups may target government organizations in Brazil or the US in response for the cut back in funding. Protests are likely to be in person; however, some protesters may turn to cyber-enabled protesting methods, such as distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks or website defacement. Claims that the USAID may have funded disinformation campaigns in Brazil will also cause misinformation to spread throughout the platform as users repost posts with their own comments. This will make it difficult to identify accurate facts and will undermine trust in government institutions.
Social engineering awareness
- Ransomware group Arcus Media reportedly targeted Technico, a Brazilian company that specializes in the sale and maintenance of heavy machinery, causing the company to experience operational disruption for an unspecified amount of time.
- The Coyote banking Trojan has reportedly been primarily targeting victims in Brazil. The Trojan is designed to gain access to financial applications and steal sensitive financial information.
- Ransomware group 8base reportedly targeted St. Nicholas School in São Paulo in a ransomware attack. The threat actors accessed a large volume of data, including personal files, employment contracts, certificates and invoices.
Disinformation education
- Numerous X users have claimed that a supreme judge in Brazil received funding from USAID to promote disinformation campaigns to manipulate elections.
- Disinformation on other social media platforms, such as Bluesky, are likely to continue growing.
- Social media users should corroborate information viewed on social media platforms to ensure the information is accurate.
Social media monitoring
- Users on X discuss the impacts of the dissolution of the USAID and its fundings to Brazil, as well as the continued discussions about the risks of disinformation campaigns targeting Brazilians on social media.
Electoral protection in Brazil: cybersecurity training and support
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