Illustrative stock photo (source: Sme)
The Foreign Ministry has become the target of a cyber-attack from abroad, the Sme daily wrote on October 17, citing the Military Intelligence Service at the Security Council session.
Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini reported the attack to the media, adding that it is impossible to specify right now who is behind the attack, and from which country they originate. Pellegrini also said Slovakia has to boost investments in this sphere and enhance international cooperation with countries that have more experience with similar cases.
The goal was to filter sensitive data
In cooperation with the Foreign Ministry, Military Intelligence works on counter-measures, while checking all government and state servers.
“In the past days, the Foreign Ministry was hit by a huge cyber-attack from abroad,” Pellegrini said, as quoted by Sme. “Our experts from the military intelligence uncovered this attack due to the non-standard behaviour of computers. After a minute analysis, they found that it was not a common virus but a targeted cyber-attack.” He added that the hackers were aimed at filtering sensitive data and then transferring them to servers abroad.
Pellegrini calls for investments
Slovakia will have to considerably increase expenses on security measures in cybernetics and launch cooperation at an international level.
“It is inevitable to start cooperating internationally with people who investigate similar incidents in other countries,” Pellegirni summed up. “One of the priorities will also be the build-up of necessary infrastructure in cyber-defence, including expenses, since this is a sphere we cannot underestimate: any investments in this sphere will be taken on-board.”
