With the intense denial of service cyber-attack still ongoing, the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau has opened a pre-trial investigation on allegations of unlawful influence on an information system. The procedure is organized and coordinated by the Criminal Prosecution Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania.
The decision to open the procedure has been taken on the basis of a notification from the National Cyber Security Centre (NKSC) under the Ministry of National Defence. The NKSC has notified about an intense DDoS attack carried against the Secure National Data Transfer Network and other public institutions and private companies on June 20-29, more than 130 websites were affected, either hindered or rendered inaccessible to users altogether. The notification also points out the attacked websites had been listed as DDoS targets on Killnet channel on the public messaging platform Telegram. Killnet is a hacker group established in the beginning of this year and associated with the Russian state.
Attribution of the cyber-attacks in question is clear but we will also seek a legal expertise on the offence and to bring the perpetrators to justice
Vice Minister of National Defence Margiris Abukevičius
The NKSC intensely collaborates with partners and officers and provides real-time situation updates. Major DDoS have been managed and the Secure National Data Transfer Network is accessible.
Under Paragraph II of Article 197 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania Unlawful Influence on an Information System, unlawful interruption of or shutting down of multiple information systems or an information systems of strategic importance to national security, state governance, economy or financial system, as well as for an offence committed using unlawfully obtained personal data or to the effect of major damage, brings up to 6 years of imprisonment.
