IT system disruptions cause passport issuance delays in Lithuania

VILNIUS – IT system disruptions have caused delays in passport issuance in Lithuania, Evelina Gudzinskaite, director of the Migration Department, confirmed to BNS on Monday.

Some Lithuanian public agencies and companies have been the targets of cyber-attacks since last week. 

Gudzinskaite did not confirm to BNS that the disruption was due to an attack, but said that information about the incident had been sent to the Information Technology and Communications Department under the Interior Ministry. 

"We are having problems with uploading and updating information on our website, but the worst thing is that our internal systems, such as the passport system, are currently experiencing disruptions," the director said.  

"Queues can build up and some clients may not be served in time," she added.

According to Gudzinskaite, specialists are facing similar problems when issuing residence permits to foreigners in Lithuania.

The State Tax Inspectorate on Monday shut down its IT system due to a cyber-attack.

The National Cyber Security Centre under the Defense Ministry warned last week about an increase in the number of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) incidents. 

The Defense Ministry said that most of the attacks were targeting public agencies and the communications and finance sectors, causing temporary service disruptions. 

Moscow has recently accused Lithuania and the EU of violating international agreements by restricting the transit of some goods to the Kaliningrad region due to sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. 

Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas earlier did not rule out that the attacks could be linked to the stand-off.