Police reports major breakthrough in probe of cyber attacks

“The investigation is in progress, the breakthrough is huge, we have something to be happy about,” Andzejus Roginskis, deputy chief of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, told BNS on Friday.

He confirmed that “persons linked with the attacks have been identified” but refused to elaborate on the planned actions.

“Without doubt, international cooperation is always prevalent in this type of cases” he said in comment of assistance of foreign colleagues in the probe.

According to BNS sources, some of the suspected organizers of the attacks have been detained and brought suspicions, while others face milder supervision measures.

After a server of the Information Society Development Committee, protected by the state-run company Infrastruktura, came under a cyber attack in late April, IT systems of about a dozen of state institutions were affected, including those of the parliament, the President’s Office, the government, many ministries and various state institutions, namely, the State Tax Inspectorate and the Central Project Management Agency.

Specialists say the attacks were rather amateur, however, are astounding in terms of resources applied – the so-called botnet network allowing remote control of nearly 8,000-10,000 computers, other instruments.

In the report of threats, Lithuania’s State Security Department has listed cyber hackers linked with Russia as the key threat to the country’s national security.