Lithuania fixing cybersecurity gaps, not surprised by Russia's hostile rhetoric – PM

  • 2022-06-28
  • BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS – Lithuania is fixing cybersecurity gaps after a recent cyber-attack on its institutions, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said on Tuesday, adding that the country had observed intensive scanning of the systems before the assault.  

"Measures are still being taken. (Experts) are working 24/7, fixing the gaps after identifying them," she told reporters. "This is definitely not the first cyber-attack. We have seen such attacks in the period since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February." 

According to Simonyte, attacks had subsided for some time following the invasion, but there was a lot of scanning for vulnerabilities in information systems.

"(The scanning activity) has been very intensive throughout the recent period. We have been monitoring and seeing the whole situation, and the authorities are now adapting solutions where they are possible," the prime minister said.  

"And Russia's rhetoric is what we are more or less used to where we live, because it usually does not take long for the regime of that country to find a pretext for this rhetoric," she added. 

Lithuania has recently come under an intense cyber-attack, with some public authorities and companies experiencing disruptions. 

Lithuania's National Cyber Security Centre said on Monday afternoon that the most serious incidents had been brought under control, but warned that attacks might continue. 

Killnet, a Russia-affiliated hacker group, claimed responsibility for the cyber-attack, which it said in a video message was in retaliation for the Kaliningrad transit restrictions imposed by Lithuania earlier in June.

After EU sanctions against Russia took effect, Lithuania restricted the transit of steel and ferrous metals to Kaliningrad, a move it said was based on clarification from the European Commission.