A Russian hacking group has taken responsibility for a distributed denial-of-service attack targeting government and private organizations in Lithuania.
According to a report today in The Baltic Times, the attack, from a group known as “Killnet,” caused delays in processing passports and residence permits through Lithuania’s Migration Department. Other public agencies and companies in the communications and finance sectors also suffered temporary service disruptions.
The cyberattacks follow a decision by Lithuania to restrict the transit of steel and ferrous metals to Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea that can only be accessed by land through Lithuania or Poland. Lithuania restricted the goods because of European Union sanctions, but the decision enraged the Kremlin, who denounced the move as unprecedented and unlawful.
A spokesperson for Killnet told Reuters that the DDoS attack was in direct response to Lithuania’s decision to block the transit of sanctioned goods. “The attack will continue until Lithuania lifts the blockade,” the spokesperson said. “We have demolished 1,652 web resources. And that’s just so far.”
The figure of 1,652…
