Cert.lv reports cyberattacks on Latvia’s municipal systems — LSM English

Several regions of Latvia have recorded repeated cyberattacks on video surveillance systems, cameras and smart building management systems owned by local authorities. This was stated by Varis Teivāns, deputy head of Latvia’s cyber incident response team Cert.lv, LSM English reports.

Up to five incidents in different regions

According to Teivāns, cyber incidents are continuing in Latvia, while there has been a slight increase in attacks specifically targeting video surveillance infrastructure and building management systems owned by municipal authorities. In total, this concerns up to five cases in several regions of the country.

Teivāns noted that the attackers are likely linked to Russia, the aggressor state: their communications came from Russian networks. He suggested that the perpetrators may be trying to gain access to cameras, commit acts of vandalism, replace images with their own messages, or otherwise affect the operation of the systems.

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No link to electoral systems found

According to Cert.lv specialists’ assessment, these incidents are connected neither to electoral systems nor to polling stations. At the same time, the service is closely monitoring the situation ahead of the Saeima elections.

Teivāns said that no attempts to influence the elections have been recorded so far. However, taking into account the experience of other countries, specialists allow for increased hacker activity on voting day. He stressed that even in the event of such attacks, they will not be able to affect the legitimacy of the elections, since voting in Latvia does not take place in a digital environment and ballots are counted manually.