The small country, a member of NATO, undergoes a “sophisticated” computer attack targeting several institutions and threatening public infrastructure.
Le Monde with AFP
The Montenegro is the victim of an important cyber attack, which aims for several institutions in the country, announced Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic, after having gathered the National Security Council late Friday, August 26 to decide the measures to be taken. It is the second cyber attack, after a first wave having struck institutions in this country of 620,000 inhabitants just after a motion of censorship which overthrew its government on August 19.
The Head of Government, who now manages current affairs, will send “a request to international partners to receive experts from experts in order to possibly recover data recovered in this attack and to prevent attacks in the future” .
Among the “enemy countries” of Russia
m. Abazovic did not speak on the origins of this attack, but his Minister of the Interior appointed Russia. For Rasko Konjevic, Vice-Prime Minister, it is “very sophisticated attacks which cannot be carried out by individuals”. “Who could have a kind of political interest in inflicting such damage on Montenegro? I find that there are sufficiently [elements] to doubt that Russia is behind the attack,” He asserted on television.
Montenegro, a member of NATO, was added in March by Russia on its list of “enemy countries”, after its alignment with sanctions from the European Union against Moscow because of its invasion of the Ukraine.
“All essential infrastructure” in danger
Several media, citing an “informal briefing” for the local press at the National Security Agency (ANB), said on Saturday that the attack is led by “several Russian services”. According to the same source, “all essential infrastructure” are in danger, in particular electricity and water supply systems. Electric power plants have switched to manual operating mode.
The computer systems of several institutions have been “infected”, including that of the Ministry of Finance, according to the Prime Minister, while the Minister of Public Service assured that “the accounts of citizens and businesses, just like their data, are not threatened “.
The United States Embassy has given a warning to American nationals in the country, specifying that these “persistent” cyber attacks could cause “disturbances in the public services, transport sectors, including on border passages and in airports, as well as in the field of telecommunications “.