Lithuania collateral victim of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. After blocking the transit of certain goods from Russia to Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave bordering EU countries, the Baltic country suffered large-scale cyberattacks from the Killnet group.
The armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia since the Russian invasion of February 24, 2022 has repercussions on many European countries. In Lithuania, several public and private websites were temporarily paralyzed by a cyber attack on Monday June 27, according to the country’s authorities. The attack comes a week after the Kremlin threatened to retaliate to restrictions imposed by Lithuania on the transit of goods subject to European sanctions (steel and ferrous metals in particular) from Russia to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
According to the site specializing in the observation of variations in internet traffic worldwide Netblocks, the cyberattack was a denial of service (DDoS) attack which affected “secure networks used by state institutions”. Lithuania has confirmed that the services in charge of tax inspection or migration are among the public institutions targeted, while some companies have also been forced to suspend their online services.
⚠️ Confirmed: Metrics show a disruption to government networks in #Lithuania as the National Cyber Security Center reports a denial-of-service cyberattack affecting secure networks used by state institutions, also affecting public and private internet infrastructure ?? pic.twitter.com/dgsDrJDyxq
—NetBlocks (@netblocks) June 27, 2022
Jonas Skardinskas, director of the National Cyber Security Center, the Lithuanian cyber constable, indicated that he is “very likely that attacks of similar or greater intensity will continue in the coming days, particularly in the transport, energy and financial sectors”. Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte has said that cyberattacks have been recurrent in the country since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24. She clarified that the attacks of the day had been “mastered“.
The attack was claimed by Killnet, a group of pro-Russian hackers who have been very active since the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. He confirmed that it was linked to Lithuania’s ban on the transit of certain Russian products to Kaliningrad. The group has already claimed responsibility for several attacks against Romanian and German websites, and tried to compromise the organization of the Eurovision Song Contest won by Ukraine.