In San Juan, Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, officials took Department of Transportation and Public Works systems offline after government monitors detected and “neutralized” a cyberattack attempt, temporarily pausing appointments at the island’s driver-service centers, known as CESCO, according to statements from the Puerto Rico Innovation and Technology Service, or PRITS, reported by NotiCel and Metro Puerto Rico.
PRITS said security and monitoring tools identified the incident Monday, March 23, and the agency activated its cyber incident response plan; systems tied to the Department of Transportation and Public Works, known as DTOP by its Spanish acronym, were disconnected as a precaution to protect the broader government network, PRITS executive director Poincaré Díaz said in written remarks.
Officials have not described the exact nature of the incident, including whether it involved malware, ransomware, or another method, and they have not identified who was behind it. As of Tuesday, no group or individual had publicly claimed responsibility.
The outage affected public services at the Centers for Driver Services, known by the Spanish acronym CESCO; officials said services were paused temporarily and appointments will be rescheduled, with updates to be posted through official government channels.
PRITS said technical teams are still evaluating the scope of the incident and validating systems before restoring service; Díaz said there is no evidence so far of a leak or compromise of residents’ data.
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Puerto Rico has dealt with recent cyber disruptions affecting government services, including a Thanksgiving-week 2025 incident authorities said began at IT contractor Truenorth and spilled into systems used by the Department of Education, the Health Insurance Administration (ASES) and the State Insurance Fund (CFSE), with La Fortaleza saying services were restored and officials stating they found no evidence citizen data was stolen.
A separate disruption surfaced in late May 2025, when Puerto Rico’s Justice Department disclosed a cyberattack that knocked offline the Criminal Justice Information System (SIJC-PR) and forced the suspension of services including requests for criminal record certificates, as PRITS assisted with response and recovery; local reporting later described services coming back after days of restoration work.
DTOP oversees roadway and transportation functions in Puerto Rico, and CESCO centers handle high-volume driver services such as licensing and vehicle-related transactions.
Officials have not provided a timeline for restoring systems or reopening CESCO services, saying validation work must be completed first; PRITS and DTOP said they will issue periodic updates as systems are brought back online.
