Cyberattack on Foreign Ministry under investigation

Cyberattack on Foreign Ministry under investigation

The Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Ministry was the target of a large-scale cyberattack. "After Germany, the Czech Republic and Great Britain, we became another target of sophisticated cyber espionage," said Finance Minister Peter Kažimír, speaking at Question Time in Parliament on Thursday. As he informed MPs, the Military Intelligence detected unorthodox behaviour in computers and, following an in-depth analysis, confirmed the presence of a sophisticated malware, which enabled the attackers to filter data inside the organisation (and send it) to the attackers' servers abroad. Peter Kažimír added that the hackers had failed to obtain any confidential information. Their identity as well as the subject of their interest and the time period since the beginning of the attack were, however, not revealed.

Sorry, but this is very sensitive information, Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš told journalists on Thursday. Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini described the attack as highly sophisticated. He also hinted at the possibility that it might have been prepared by a global spy organisation.

We are keeping an eye on the activities of the organisations which are most probably behind this attack, said the Prime Minister adding, that it was impossible to specify either the culprits or the country from which this attack was carried out.

Safety analyst Juraj Krúpa, however, claims it is not difficult to find out whose intention it was to obtain data and information from the Slovak Foreign Ministry.

It would be naïve to think that the attacker comes from Austria or the Central African Republic, Juraj Krúpa told RTVS. According to him, the majority of cyberattacks come either from China or Russia, as was the case in Germany or in the Czech Republic. Slovak MPs confirmed that Military Intelligence had been dealing with the cyberattack against the Foreign Ministry for a longer period of time and that Slovakia had been investigating this case in co-operation with other countries.

The opposition insists that Parliament needs to debate the Security and Defence Strategy of the Slovak Republic, approved by the Government a year ago, which the House has not yet discussed, TASR learnt on Thursday. The Head of the parliamentary Defence Committee Anton Hrnko conceded that the junior coalition party harbours reservations towards the document.

At the next House session, opposition lawmakers will attempt to re-submit the strategy. Since the new strategy is not definitively passed yet, Slovakia governs its policies with a document approved back in 2005.

It is the Slovak National Party (SNS) that is blocking the passing of the security and defence strategy, according to the opposition. "This party is known for its above-average ties to Russia. Threats originating from Russia are explicitly listed in the security strategy, where SNS lacked access . This is more problematic for them than the defence (strategy)," stated MP Lubomir Galko (Freedom and Solidarity/SaS). He added that it was irresponsible for other coalition parties, Smer-SD and Most-Hid, to tacitly tolerate this unprecedented state out of fear of what the response from SNS might be.

In reaction, Hrnko claimed that 98 percent of the security strategy content is acceptable, but despite this, SNS has objections to the document. "There are things that are unacceptable for the SNS because it believes that Slovakia doesn't have an enemy and doesn't need to create enemies," he claimed. The fact that the document was greenlighted by the Government, meaning it also received votes from SNS ministers, Hrnko attests to a failure in communication.

According to the opposition, hybrid warfare is part of everyday life in Slovakia, therefore, Bratislava needs a strategy to guide its defence. They also added that the fact that the document was passed by the Government but not Parliament makes Slovakia look unconfident.

Martina Šimkovičová, Photo: Flickr.com/John Roepke

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