Colombia's Ecopetrol says cyberattack stole data tied to 3,300 accounts

Colombian state-controlled energy giant Ecopetrol announced Friday that a cyberattack resulted in the theft of data linked to approximately 3,300 user accounts. The company, however, assured that critical operations, production capacity, and direct financial impacts remained unaffected as of Friday. No stolen data has been publicly disclosed by the hacker.

Ecopetrol, a major energy producer in Latin America and Colombia's largest company, accounts for over 60% of the nation's hydrocarbon output. The unidentified attacker has communicated extortion demands to the company, threatening to release the compromised information.

The breach affected cloud-based file storage for 15 subsidiaries, including Ecopetrol itself. The firm managed to thwart an attempted ransomware attack. It continues to evaluate the potential exposure of confidential, proprietary, or personal data, cautioning that the incident could negatively impact its business, reputation, operating results, and financial standing.

“

could not "guarantee" the breach would not have a "material adverse" financial impact.