By San José, Costa Rica — Cyberattacks across Latin America experienced an unprecedented surge, driven by the rapid integration of offensive artificial intelligence tools by threat actors. According to telemetry data released by Fortinet through its FortiGuard Labs threat intelligence unit, regional security sensors recorded approximately 15 billion exploitation attempts throughout 2025. This represents a stark 39.85 percent increase compared to the previous year, highlighting how automated tools are enabling malicious operators to scale their operations faster than ever.
The widespread availability of AI-powered offensive utilities has drastically compressed the operational timeline for modern cybercriminals. Tasks that historically required specialized skills and weeks of manual effort—such as auditing source code, identifying misconfigurations, and testing vulnerabilities—can now be executed automatically in a matter of hours. As a result, the window between the public disclosure of a software flaw and its active enterprise exploitation has narrowed from roughly a week down to less than 24 hours.
To better understand the growing threat of AI-driven cyberattacks in Latin America and the legal implications for businesses operating across the region, TicosLand.com consulted with prominent legal expert Lic. Larry Hans Arroyo Vargas from Bufete de Costa Rica.
“As artificial intelligence accelerates the frequency and sophistication of cyber threats across Latin America, organizations can no longer treat cybersecurity merely as an IT concern, but as a fundamental legal imperative. Proactive risk management, strict regulatory compliance, and robust data protection frameworks are crucial to mitigating corporate liability and safeguarding digital infrastructure in this rapidly evolving threat landscape.”
Lic. Larry Hans Arroyo Vargas, Attorney at Law, Bufete de Costa Rica
Indeed, as AI continues to reshape the threat landscape across Latin America, elevating digital security from a technical precaution to a cornerstone of legal governance is vital for any organization looking to protect its assets and maintain trust; we extend our sincere gratitude to Lic. Larry Hans Arroyo Vargas for sharing his valuable perspective on this urgent shift.
Offensive AI tools compress the time required to validate and exploit existing exposure, making possible in less than 24 hours what previously took weeks or months.
Martín Hoz, Senior Vice President of Pre-Sales Engineering at Fortinet Latin America and the Caribbean
Despite the high-tech mechanisms used by attackers, legacy vulnerabilities continue to account for the majority of successful intrusions across the region. Telemetry from FortiGuard Labs demonstrates that an attacker’s persistence within a corporate network depends far more on how long an organization takes to apply security patches than on the novelty of the vulnerability itself. Flaws in widely used software components, legacy file-sharing protocols, and unpatched Internet of Things devices like security cameras and printers remain primary entry vectors simply because exposure persists.
Security experts emphasize that applying a software patch merely closes the original entry door without guaranteeing that an intruder has been fully evicted. Stolen credentials, active management sessions, and persistent administrative accounts created during an initial compromise often remain functional long after a flaw is patched. Cybercriminals catalog and sell this infrastructure information on illicit dark web marketplaces, allowing subsequent threat actors to bypass early discovery phases and move directly to execution.
Regional telemetry illustrates a high conversion rate of enterprise exposure into active network exploitation across Latin American markets. In 2025, FortiGuard sensors logged 2.09 billion botnet communication attempts with command-and-control infrastructure—a 12.05 percent year-over-year increase. This represents the second-highest botnet volume globally, with malicious traffic heavily concentrated across networks in Mexico, Panama, Venezuela, Brazil, and Colombia.
Intriguingly, the report recorded a notable drop in active network reconnaissance activity across Latin America. Analysts interpret this shift not as diminished interest from cybercriminals, but rather as evidence of extensive reuse of historical network exposure mapping. Because many organizations fail to rotate passwords, update firmware, or eliminate legacy protocols, old reconnaissance data remains remarkably accurate, enabling attackers to deploy high-impact ransomware campaigns. Intelligence from FortiRecon confirmed 141 ransomware victims in Brazil, 69 in Mexico, 50 in Argentina, and 41 in Colombia during the same period.
To defend against automated and AI-driven cyber threats, security leaders advocate for fundamental hygiene practices tailored to current operational realities. Recommendations include prioritizing patch deployment based on active exploitation metrics rather than theoretical severity scores alone, enforcing multi-factor authentication on all remote access points, and completely removing administrative management interfaces from the public internet.
For enterprise executives, government authorities, and critical infrastructure operators throughout the region, cyber hygiene is increasingly recognized as a essential financial decision. Allocating resources to manage software support lifecycles and replacing legacy hardware before security updates expire costs significantly less than remediating an unpatched security breach on unsupported infrastructure.
For further information, visit fortinet.com
About Fortinet:
Fortinet is a global leader in cybersecurity solutions and networking convergence. Its threat intelligence division, FortiGuard Labs, monitors global threat indicators to deliver automated security protection and actionable research for enterprise, government, and service provider networks worldwide.
For further information, visit bufetedecostarica.com
About Bufete de Costa Rica:
As a premier legal practice, Bufete de Costa Rica exemplifies the highest standards of professional ethics and legal craftsmanship. Deeply rooted in a tradition of providing top-tier service across diverse fields, the firm consistently drives modern, forward-thinking legal solutions while actively promoting public education. By demystifying the law and expanding civic access to critical information, Bufete de Costa Rica advances its core mission of cultivating a knowledgeable, resilient, and legally empowered community.
