Deputy defmin presents Lithuania's work in strengthening cybersecurity during visit to US

VILNIUS – Lithuanian Defense Vice-Minister Greta Monika Tuckute has discussed the situation of cyber security threats in the Baltic Sea region and presented Lithuania's achievements in this area at meetings in the United States this week.

"Lithuania has confirmed its commitment to the fight against cyber criminals on the international level," a press release from the Defense Ministry quoted Tuckute as saying in comments about her visit.

She took part in a high-level meeting organized by the White House to bring together 50 countries and international organizations in the fight against ransomware cyber-attacks under the Counter Ransomware Initiative (CRI).

Lithuania is one of the leaders of the initiative, leading the Information Sharing Working Group, according to the press release.

At the meeting, the vice-minister presented Lithuania's work on the information sharing platform, which has been implemented for a year by the Regional Cyber Defense Center (RCDC) in Kaunas.

According to the ministry, important work has been done in recent years to ensure that this solution proposed by Lithuania is useful for the CRI countries. In particular, Lithuania has started to conduct introductory training on information sharing in cooperation with the Belgian Cyber Security Center.

"We say that cyber criminals have no boundaries, but what is special about the 50 countries working together is that by working together we also have no barriers. We want different regions – from the Baltic Sea to the Asia-Pacific – to be able to share information about threats in their countries," Tuckute said.

"Together with Belgium, we are promising additional thematic training for allies in 2024, to attract more countries to use our platform, to increase knowledge and build mutual trust," she added.

During her visit to the United States, the vice-minister also met with the country's top cybersecurity officials and shared Lithuania's experience in strengthening resilience to cyber threats.

During a meeting with Mieke Eoyang, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy, the vice-minister discussed the cybersecurity threat situation in the Baltic Sea region, support to Ukraine, participation of the United States in the activities of the RCDC, cooperation with the Asia-Pacific region, and further support for the development of the Army Cyber Defense Unit.

"Lithuania's experience – not only in countering cyber threats from Russia and China, but also in sharing lessons learned with partners – is relevant to the Transatlantic and Asia-Pacific partners. Cybersecurity consultations with the United States help Lithuania to enhance its knowledge and skills in strengthening its national cyber capabilities," Tuckute said.