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Lithuania condemns the continued malicious Russian behavior in cyberspace alongside the EU and NATO Allies

Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of National Defence

2024-05-03
Cyber security

European Union, NATO and partners have issued declarations condemning hostile activities of the Russian state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat Actor 28 (APT28) hacker group targeting institutions and processes of Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden and other allies.

"Just like our allies, Lithuania is regularly identifying cyber espionage activities conducted by the Russian security and intelligence hackers against Lithuania's information systems. It is unacceptable and Lithuania stands ready to activate coordinate measures together with the international community to prevent and respond to the Russian cyber operations," said Minister of National Defence Laurynas Kasčiūnas.

The coordinated solidarity statement of the EU, NATO and partners made on May 3 regarding the APT28 attribution to Russia builds on the national German and Czech attributions published this week at national level regarding the Russian attempt to sway democracy in their countries, as well as earlier data provided by other countries, including Lithuania, regarding cyber espionage operations of the Russian cybercrime group.

The National Cyber Security Centre and intelligence institutions published information in the National Cyber Security Status Report back in 2016, as well as in the National Security Threat Assessment in 2019, about the cases of professional cyber espionage equipment used in the Lithuania which was linked to the APT28 group employed by the Russian intelligence services. According to Lithuanian institutions, main areas of the APT28 interest are politics, the military and economy.

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell underscored in the statement on behalf of all the EU member states the need for cooperation of the international community so as to ensure security of the upcoming elections across the EU and over 60 other countries worldwide in 2024.

This is not the first instance of coordinated action taken against Russia's malicious cyber activities. The EU officially attributed a cyberattack to Russia for the first time in history on 10 May 2022 when a cyber-attack targeted the KA-SAT telecommunications satellite of the U.S. Viasat satellite communications operator only hours left until the mass invasion of Ukraine. As a result, not only Ukraine but also in Germany, France, Hungary, Greece, Italy and Poland suffered broadband service was interruptions. Also, Lithuania initiated a joint EU declaration issued on 19 July 2022 addressing malicious cyber activities conducted by pro-Russian hackers against Lithuania and other EU countries in the context of the Russian war against Ukraine. Moreover, EU and NATO members apply ad hoc sanctions to persons or entities in Russia linked to cyber-attacks to deter cyber threats and attacks originating from third-state sources or malicious actors.