Website of Brazil’s Anvisa suffers hacker attack, displays Argentinean flag

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s National Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa) website received a hacker attack on Wednesday (8) that temporarily took offline the Traveler’s Health Declaration form (DSV) required for entry into Brazil. The service has been restored, the agency said.

“We clarify that the attack was of the defacement type (modification of webpage aesthetics), and therefore there was no change in data and no impact on other Anvisa systems,” the agency said in a statement.

The invaders placed an Argentine flag on the DSV form page, which suggests a possible relationship with the suspension of the game that was started against Brazil on Sunday.

“As soon as the attack was identified, Anvisa’s digital security area contacted the federal government security agencies for appropriate actions. The form was offline between 3:35 pm and 5:10 pm. The service, at the moment, is operating normally,” he added.

The DSV is required for travelers from abroad to enter Brazil, along with a negative Covid-19 test.

Last week, according to Anvisa, four players from the Argentine national soccer team entered Brazil with false information on their DSVs, omitting that they had been in the UK for the past 14 days, which subjects them to mandatory quarantine of 14 days after they enter Brazil.

The incident led Anvisa to interrupt the World Cup qualifying match between Brazil and Argentina 5 minutes after the start of the game; the world soccer association FIFA will decied on another date for the game and whether either team should be punished.