Puerto Rico’s Department of Transportation was forced to cancel all upcoming appointments at the agency that handles driver’s licenses, permits and vehicle registrations due to a cyberattack.

Government officials announced the incident on Tuesday and provided an update on Wednesday, writing that the Puerto Rico Innovation and Technology Service (PRITS) is working with the Department of Transportation to restore systems at the agency. 

Poincaré Díaz, executive director of PRITS, said they were forced to disconnect all of the Transportation Department’s systems after a cyberattack was discovered on Monday. 

"Our absolute priority is the protection of Puerto Ricans’ data. Our specialized technical teams have been working around the clock to determine the scope of this event and to check each system to ensure the total integrity of the information before proceeding with the restoration of services," Díaz said. 

Díaz added that cyber incident response protocols were initiated once the attack was discovered by a security monitoring system. The statement claims the attack “was stopped” and that there is no evidence data was stolen. 

As a result of the disconnections, services at Centros de Servicios al Conductor (CESCO) — the agency responsible for issuing licenses, permits and vehicle registrations — cancelled all appointments. Facebook posts from the agency are filled with comments from residents asking when their appointments will be rescheduled. 

In a statement on Wednesday, the Department of Transportation said it is still working with PRITS “to complete the necessary technical tests before restoring services at CESCO.”

The departments did not respond to requests for comment about whether the incident involved ransomware. 

Puerto Rico’s government has been repeatedly targeted by hackers in recent years. A ransomware attack on a large IT vendor impacted multiple government agencies in December and the Justice Department was breached during an incident in June 2025. 

The FBI and U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) previously stepped in to help Puerto Rico respond to a cyberattack on the agency that manages the island's water supply. As an unincorporated territory, Puerto Rico has limited access to certain U.S. government programs but is often treated like a state by federal agencies.