Cybersecurity threats in Chile

Chile is experiencing a significant rise in cyber-attacks, with reports indicating approximately 8.8 billion attempted intrusions in 2025. These attacks, often driven by criminals using artificial intelligence, have targeted both small-to-medium enterprises and large organizations. Early recommendations focused on securing digital identities, staff training, and network monitoring to reduce the average detection time, which can exceed 185 days.

The threat landscape has since evolved to target critical national infrastructure, moving beyond data theft toward the potential paralysis of essential services. Recent incidents include ransomware attacks on a major telecommunications provider and the Public Health Institute, as well as malicious activity targeting Electronic Health Record systems in public hospitals.

Authorities, prompted by intelligence from the United States, are now investigating whether unauthorized access or data extraction has occurred within national systems. Defense strategies are shifting toward monitoring supply chain vulnerabilities and detecting how long attackers remain undetected within telecommunications and government networks.