Brazil accounts for 53% of cyberattacks in Latin America

Brazil accounts for roughly 53% of all cyberattacks recorded in Latin America, according to a joint study by JC2Sec and Bitsight. The report also says nine federal ministries were severely affected by the Fog ransomware, and that 61 banking institutions had customers impacted by the Coyote banking trojan, widening the risk to both the public and financial sectors.

What do the data show about Brazil?

The survey places Brazil as the region’s main target, beyond a single ransomware case. The 53% share makes it the country with the highest concentration of incidents in Latin America, while the reported impact on ministries and banks shows exposure across federal agencies and financial entities.

In parallel, another analysis published by Bitnoticias and based on Elastic Security Labs describes the KREMLIN banking malware operation, also identified as REF9334, as almost entirely concentrated in Brazil. Of 1,515 mapped infected systems, 98.75% are in the country, and the campaigns mimic pages from at least a dozen Brazilian banks, including Banco do Brasil, Caixa, Bradesco, Sicoob, C6 Bank, Inter, BTG, Safra, PagBank, PicPay, Santander and Mercado Pago.

What other indicators reinforce Brazil’s weight?

Recent reports agree that Brazil accounts for a large share of malicious activity, measured through different methods. Trellix’s threat report, cited by Brazilian business media, places it as the world’s third country with the most publicly reported cyber incidents between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, with 3.45% of the cases analyzed.

That same survey shows a sector breakdown in which the public sector accounts for 39% of findings in Brazil for the first quarter of 2026, telecommunications for 33%, and financial institutions for 16%. The picture does not make banking the only target, but it does show it as one of the most persistent fronts within a broader set that also affects the state and communications networks.

What do the data say about fraud and the techniques used?

Serasa Experian reported, and Brazilian media repeated those figures, that in the first half of 2026 more than 50.7 million messages linked to digital fraud were identified in Brazil, an average of 3.2 scam attempts per second. In the same period, 20,840 virtual threats were recorded across fake ads, profiles, pages and apps, up 27.2% from the first six months of 2025.

That comes on top of the growing use of synthetic content. An analysis published by TI Inside in English, based on data from the Federal Police, Febraban and digital identity firm VU, says deepfakes used in fraud in Brazil jumped 830% between 2024 and 2025. By 2026, they already account for 6.5% of all fraud detected in the country, up from 0.1% recorded in March 2025.