{"id":1575445,"date":"2022-06-28T08:17:05","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T12:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platoaistream.com\/?post_type=station&p=1575445"},"modified":"2022-07-15T23:46:07","modified_gmt":"2022-07-16T03:46:07","slug":"killnet-adversary-pummels-lithuania-with-ddos-attacks-over-blockade","status":"publish","type":"station","link":"https:\/\/platoaistream.com\/plato-data\/killnet-adversary-pummels-lithuania-with-ddos-attacks-over-blockade\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Killnet\u2019 Adversary Pummels Lithuania with DDoS Attacks Over Blockade"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cyber collective Killnet claims it won\u2019t let up until the Baltic country opens trade routes to and from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Russia-linked cyber collective Killnet has claimed responsibility for DDoS attacks Monday on the Lithuanian government and other entities in the Baltic country over closure of transit routes within the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, according to researchers. The threat group warns that it will keep up attacks until the issue is resolved.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Lithuania\u2019s National Cyber Security Center (NKSC) under the Ministry of National Defense warned of intense and ongoing DDoS attacks against Lithuania\u2019s Secure National Data Transfer Network as well as other governmental institutions and private companies in the country.<\/p>\n

The attacks\u2014which the government expects to be ongoing as well as target other critical infrastructure in Lithuania\u2013disrupted access to services of users of the secure data network, the NKSC said in a public statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Infosec<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is highly probable that such or even more intense attacks will continue into the coming days, especially against the communications, energy and financial sectors,\u201d Jonas Skardinskas, acting NKSC director and head of cyber security management department, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Motivation for Attacks<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Russia-based Killnet apparently launched the attacks in response to the Lithuanian government\u2019s announcement on June 18 that it would close routes between the Baltic country and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad for transport of steel and other metals, according to Flashpoint, which published a blog post<\/a> by the Flashpoint team on the attacks Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese train routes, according to the Russian government, are essential in bringing in at least half of the exclave\u2019s imports, prompting Russian officials to label the move as a \u2018blockade\u2019 and warn of a harsh retaliation,\u201d a Flashpoint spokesperson wrote in an email to Threatpost.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Lithuania has justified the closure as a necessary requirement to fulfill the obligations of European Union (EU) sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in late February, where the war is ongoing.<\/p>\n

On its Telegram channel, Killnet claimed that it would stop the attacks as soon as the Lithuanian government reinstates transit routes with Kaliningrad, according to Flashpoint.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Killnet group also told<\/a> Reuters it plans to continue attacks until the blockade is lifted, adding that it has already \u201cdemolished 1652 web resources\u2013and that\u2019s just so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cyber Attack as Political Weapon<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There was some warning prior to the attacks that they were imminent, according to Flashpoint. Indeed, DDoS attacks have been a typical weapon of choice for Russian cyber actors since Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, with Russian threat actors using them both before the war on the ground started<\/a> and after alongside other cyber-attacks<\/a> to support military operations. This year alone, Killnet reportedly already has targeted Romania<\/a>, Moldova, Czech Republic and Italy<\/a> with cyber-attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn June 25, Flashpoint analysts observed chatter regarding a plan for a mass-coordinated attack to take place on June 27, which Killnet referred to as \u2018judgment day,’\u201d researchers wrote in the post.  In retrospect, they said that this conversation was likely a reference to Monday\u2019s attacks.<\/p>\n

Flashpoint researchers also observed smaller attacks prior to Monday, including one that took place on June 22, they said. This appears to support Killnet\u2019s claim that the attacks were in retaliation to the closure of transit routes to Kaliningrad, researchers wrote.<\/p>\n

It also seems that Killnet is using the attacks against Lithuanian as a proving ground for new tools and tactics and even may be gearing up to team up with the Conti ransomware gang, according to Flashpoint.<\/p>\n

In a post from June 26, Killnet labeled Lithuania a \u201ctesting ground for our new skills\u201d and mentioned that their \u201cfriends from Conti\u201d are eager to fight. This pairing would make sense, as both groups had already expressed an allegiance to Russia at the beginning of the group\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, researchers said..<\/p>\n

No matter, it\u2019s clear now that cyber-attacks will be used as a frequent weapon\u2014albeit not necessarily a deadly one\u2013for the world\u2019s military powers, either alongside a physical war or to support a political stance, one security professional noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery significant military power in the world has developed cyber capabilities [that] have evolved from espionage tools into full-fledged weapons to be used as part of a coordinated military response,\u201d observed Chris Clymer, director and CISO of Inversion6, in an email to Threatpost. \u201cTargeting another country with these arguably constitutes an act of war, but one less severe than kinetic attacks with missiles and tanks. This harassment will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","type":"","auto_type":false,"post":"","stream":"","stream_url":"","waveform_data":[],"duration":0,"start":0,"end":0,"bpm":0,"downloadable":false,"download_url":"","purchase_title":"","purchase_url":"","post-count-all":0,"like_count":0,"download_count":0,"editor_note":"","copyright":"","captions":[],"sources":[]},"genre":[10650],"station_tag":[3884,14557,15654,15679,15663,7027,6174,4897,15662,5133,15665,4182,5346,6535,5026,6464,9242,7457,14558,8453,15312,9642,14556,5367,15675,14555],"artist":[15688],"mood":[],"activity":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/platoaistream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station\/1575445"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/platoaistream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/platoaistream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/station"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platoaistream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/platoaistream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1575445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platoaistream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=1575445"},{"taxonomy":"station_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platoaistream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station_tag?post=1575445"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platoaistream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=1575445"},{"taxonomy":"mood","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platoaistream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mood?post=1575445"},{"taxonomy":"activity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platoaistream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/activity?post=1575445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}