Lithuania has not experienced any cyber attacks that could be linked to geopolitical tensions in Ukraine yet, according to the national cyber security centre, although the alert level is up.
“We have not recorded any specific incidents but the alarm level has gone up. Today's reality is that cyber wars are taking place at full speed,” Rytis Rainys, the centre's head, told LRT on Thursday.
The national cyber security centre is exchanging information with Ukraine that has come under such attacks recently, according to Rainys, and also with Poland. It has also offered guidelines to various state institutions.
“I would not want to provide any specifics due to the sensitivity of this information,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the central Bank of Lithuania warned the country's banks to prepare for possible power cuts and cyber attacks amid worries that Russia's standoff with Ukraine may escalate into a military conflict, Reuters has reported.
“Losing electricity and Internet access are among ‘extreme but possible’ scenarios that Lithuania's central bank told finance companies to be ready for in a letter sent to them last week and seen by Reuters,” according to the news agency.
“Increased geopolitical tension in the region leads to increased threats of cyber-attacks, including attacks on critical information infrastructure,” the Bank of Lithuania reportedly warned in the letter.
Meanwhile, Lithuania's power transmission system operator Litgrid says power supplies are stable and will not be interrupted.
“We have drawn up scenarios of operating under extreme situations, for example, if suddenly all power lines with Russia and Belarus are cut off. [...] The Baltic system is stable, sufficient, we have sufficient generation, the networks' quality level is high and we also have backup measures, including cables with Sweden, the line with Poland, and Estonia has three cables with Finland,” Rokas Masiulis, CEO at Litgrid, told BNS on Thursday.
“We have modeled a number of scenarios, ranging from the least to the most risky, and we see the system's adequacy and power supplies in all cases,” he added.
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