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Thursday, 18.04.2024, 05:03
Russia-linked spyware found on Lithuanian MPs' computers
"There have been cases of finding (spyware) on
politicians' computers," Darius Jauniskis said.
"You can say so," he said when asked if the
spyware had been discovered on lawmakers' computers.
The official did not reveal the names of the parliamentarians.
The spyware was detected at the start of this year, which
means that they were members of the previous Seimas.
Rimtautas Cerniauskas, head of the National Cyber Security
Center, told BNS that spyware had been found on three computers of state institutions.
"(The spyware) collects passwords, collects documents
and sends them to Russia. (…) The three computers sent data (…) to Russian
intelligence institutions or to Russian online addresses linked with Russia's
spying activities," he said.
Cerniauskas said that the computers had been infected with
spyware via USB sticks.
The director of the State Security Department regards this
as a threat to national security.
"If you know the information stored on these computers,
if you know what the politicians' interests are, what they share and whom they
communicate with, you can then try to influence them, for example, through
blackmail," he said.
Similar spyware was found on one computer last year.