Yesterday an invitation was posted on multiple websites in Russia, suggesting cyber attacks on Latvia, which have commenced, as reported by Latvian Ministry of Defence parliamentary secretary Baiba Bļodniece in an interview to TV3.
The ministry’s representative said there have already been attacks on websites in Latvia. State IT security incident prevention institution Cert.lv is prepared to counter any cyber attacks, but state and municipal institutions and companies are invited to prepare for possible cyber security incidents.
Bļodniece mentioned that cyber attacks on Latvia have intensified following the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, but
since the 9th and 10th of May have intensified even more.
Cert.lv manager Baiba Kaškina admits that Latvian institutions have become targets of killnet hackers. Initially only state institutions were designated as targets for such attacks. Yesterday, however, a list of about 100 targets was published. Among them are state institutions, financial, transport and other sector institutions and enterprises, as well as some fitness club.
Mostly Latvian institutions come under DDoS attacks, which are simple and cheap, which makes them relatively easy to deal with. However, since they are simple to execute, they can last a long time.
Kaškina mentioned that so far, hackers have had little success. The situation is the worst with ziedot.lv charity platform, but the expert said that with aid from specialists the platform will be fully restored soon.
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Ministry of Defence representative said State Police had the situation generally under control on 9th and 10th May – public order was maintained and perpetrators were detained.
Bļodniece said the Ministry of Defence considers opportunities to call in more people to serve state protection. This includes recruiting more people in professional military service and National Guard, as well as options to recruit people under softer conditions than the ones in place in the National Guard.