Russian hackers have been targeting Latvia and Lithuania
In connection with the idea of demolishing the Victory Park monument in Rīga, Latvia has become the target of attacks by the Russian hacking group 'Killnet' and its associated groups since May, and Lithuania is now a primary target in connection with its enforcement of sanctions on transit goods to Kaliningrad, Varis Teivāns, Deputy Head of the Information Technology (IT) Security Incident Prevention Institution "Cert.lv" told Latvian Radio June 29.
For more than a month and a half, Latvia has "very respectfully" resisted the cyber-attacks, which in recent days have shifted to focus more on Lithuanian institutions and businesses, said Teivāns.
According to him, the purposeful work carried out over several years in preparing the state, many local governments and other more critical information systems against cyber attacks has proven its resilience.
The most visible cases of cyber attacks in Latvia were the temporary unavailability of the Mobilly app service, some cases of difficulty with the purchase of train tickets, and some disruption to the "Ziedot.lv" charity donation site. However, as a result of joint work, the availability of the respective services was restored fairly quickly, Teivāns said.
"Now, Lithuania will probably be given this attention in a similar way and colleagues will have to fight more intensively," he said.
He acknowledged that the war on the "cyberspace front" had actually been going on since mid-January. There have been some successful cyber-attacks in Latvia that are not related to Killnet, but to another group of Russian hackers who were most likely organized and backed by state authorities, Teivans said. As this case is under investigation, no further information is currently being provided. Attacks have also affected some private sector companies, he added.
Source: eng.lsm.lv (Latvian Public Broadcasting)