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


The logo of Ecopetrol is displayed at its headquarters in Bogota, Colombia, June 24, 2025. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez

July 17 (Reuters) - Colombian ⁠state-controlled energy company Ecopetrol said on Friday ⁠a cyberattack resulted in the theft of data ‌tied to about 3,300 user accounts and that it could not "guarantee" the breach would not have a "material adverse" financial impact.

The ​company, however, said it had not ⁠identified any critical ⁠disruption to its operations, production capacity or any direct ⁠financial ‌impact as of Friday, and that no stolen data had yet been disclosed by ⁠the hacker.

Ecopetrol is one of Latin America's ​largest energy ‌producers and Colombia's largest company, accounting for more ⁠than 60% ​of the country's hydrocarbon production.

Ecopetrol said the hacker had not been identified but had communicated extortion demands ⁠to the company and threatened to ​publicly disclose the hacked information.

The data breach affected cloud-based file storage environments of 15 subsidiaries, including Ecopetrol itself, ⁠the energy firm said, adding that it was able to prevent an attempted ransomware attack.

The company said it was continuing to assess potential exposure, which ​could include confidential, proprietary or ⁠personal data, and warned the incident could have ​a material adverse effect on its ‌business, reputation, operating results or ​financial condition.

(Reporting by Preetika Parashuraman and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Sam Holmes)

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