Articles by Tomas Janckus

Today, we cannot imagine our lives without being able to pay for goods and services with our card or through electronic banking. Making financial transactions has become much easier and faster. Do these improvements come at a cost of security? Below, Tomas Stamulis, the Information Security Management Team Lead at ATEA, describes the fundamentals of security in electronic banking. […]

Cyberattacks are becoming an increasingly greater problem in the whole world. This applies to Lithuania too. It is estimated that Lithuania experienced 55 thousand cyberattacks last year. Below, Monika Žemgulytė, Project Manager of cybersecurity competences at “Cyber Security Academy” talks about how these attacks are carried out and how to avoid falling victim to them. […]

The number of cyberattacks in Lithuania and in the world is rising every year. State acting individually are no longer capable of guarding their societies from these threats. Below, Agnija Tumkevič, a lecturer at the Vilnius University Institute of International Relations and Political Science, explains why cyberattacks are dangerous to our state and where Lithuania seeks opportunities for international cooperation. […]

Today, losing your smartphone or having it stolen is much more than just losing the device. We use our phones to check our emails, to carry out financial operations, to communicate with our loved ones, to sign important documents, to access our personal data, among many other things. […]

It is estimated that parents in the US upload over 1500 photos of their children to social media before the children turn five. 92% of two-year old toddlers already have a “digital footprint”, and one-third of all US children appear on social media within the first hours of their birth. Though similar studies have not yet been carried out in Lithuania, the observed tendencies are broadly identical: more and more parents post pictures of their children online, without really thinking of the consequences of such actions. […]

When unsolicited email begins flooding your inbox, or when vendors send SMS messages offering random goods and services, most people probably get quite annoyed. However, too often people willingly give away their consent to use their personal data to participate in various loyalty programs, sales, or lotteries without thinking about how this data would be managed. […]

Criminals are becoming increasingly innovative in the technological age. One of the tools cybercriminals use is so-called spyware – applications that allow criminals to break into the victim’s computer or phone and to collect the victim’s personal data without their knowledge. Later, this information is used for extracting money from the victim’s bank account, as well as for other crimes. […]

The Kremlin’s ideological and political propaganda often reaches us not only through the official, Russian state-controlled media, but also through cultural events and cinema. Below, Linas Kojala, the Director of the Eastern European Studies Center, explains how to recognize propaganda that is spread through cultural instruments. […]

Studies show that, on average, 65% of internet users have experienced some kind of an online threat. Most common types of threat include unwanted messengers from strangers, false messages, offensive communication, unwanted sexual messages, or deliberate provocation. […]

Ethnic minorities in Lithuania lived through the same historical tendencies as the country in which they live: the highs and the lows, the occupations, the political crises and persecution, various reforms. These processes changed the structure of the Lithuanian society and the composition of Lithuanian cities. Below, Zenonas Butkus, a history professor at the Vilnius University, sheds light on how various ethnic minorities in Lithuania became an inseparable part of our society, participated in building the Lithuanian state, defending our statehood and independence. […]

Specialists involved in the matter expect that states antagonistic to Lithuania might manipulate information about the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant, currently under construction in Ostrovets, just 50 kilometers away from Vilnius, to escalate panic in the society. Edgaras Geda, the Head of the Civilian Security Agency at the Fire and Rescue Department warns, that false messages about incidents at the plant might reach Lithuania through various media, including even the established channels. […]

As the social media culture took hold of our society, it opened up opportunities not only for socialization, self-realization, and the spread of information, but also for abuse. Today, Internet online harassment or bullying aims not only at specific individuals, but also at the broader society. Below, Tomas Stamulis, the manager at the Informational security control group ATEA (JSC), explains how to recognize “trolls” and “bots”, as well as how to counter the abuse they spread online. […]

States antagonistic to Lithuania often employ the strategy of “divide and conquer” to foment division within the country and between it and its allies. Below, Dr. Viktor Denisenko, Assistant at the Political Communications Department at the Vilnius University Communications School sheds light on what the tools are used to exert informational pressure and to divide Lithuanian and Polish societies, as well as on how to best search for common ground between the two nations. […]

Most people leave a substantial trace in the virtual space. However, few think about the fact that any data circulating in the social media or on the computer and the phone, may be accessed and exploited by cybercriminals. Below, Dr. Rytis Rainys, the Director of the National Cyber Security Center at the Ministry of Defense talks about what personal identity theft is and how to avoid it. […]

The Lithuanian military cannot guard the state properly without public support. This is well understood by states antagonistic to Lithuania, which try to weaken our state by sowing conflict and discord between various societal groups in Lithuania and by diminishing the importance of national defense. Despite the efforts by antagonistic states, the Lithuanian ethnic communities continue to play an important role in the modern effort to strengthen state security, just as they did in the historical effort to secure Lithuanian independence. […]

The Kremlin propaganda agents are noticeably intensifying their effort to drive a wedge between Lithuania and Poland. Below, Tomas Janeliūnas, a professor at the Vilnius University Institute of International Relations and Political Science, describes the main tools of informational pressure Russia uses to this goal and the reasons for these manipulations. […]