Cyber-attacks against Lithuania have ebbed, but may resume – official

VILNIUS – Cyber-attacks against Lithuanian authorities and businesses have subsided, but experts are ready in case they resume, Jonas Skardinskas, acting head of the country's National Cyber Security Center, said on Friday.

"It all can start again at any time; we are prepared," he told BNS. "But the situation, I'd say, has returned to what it was before the beginning of this past week." 

Starting last Tuesday, state institutions and companies, private businesses and online media were hit by a series of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

Responsibility for the attacks was claimed by Killnet, a group that Lithuanian officials say is linked to Russian intelligence.

Skardinskas said attacks might intensify again over the weekend. 

Killnet has said the cyber-attacks were in retaliation for the Kaliningrad transit restrictions imposed by Lithuania a week and a half ago.

Lithuania restricted the transit of steel and ferrous metals to Kaliningrad, saying it is simply adhering to EU sanctions against Russia that took effect in mid-June.