Lithuania Punches Up In Cyber Fights With Russia
By Paul Steidler: Lithuania has been in the crosshairs of relentless Russian and Chinese cyberattacks in recent years. Its response offers valuable lessons for the United States.
A strong supporter of Ukraine, Lithuania is a former Soviet Republic that borders Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast, a 5,840-square-mile region not connected to mainland Russia. Lithuania also borders Belarus, which has close military relations with Russia, and is near Ukraine. With 2.8 million people, Lithuania has less than 1/50th the population of Russia’s 144 million.
At a forum today on Capitol Hill, Lithuania’s Inga Sunelaitiene, Head of the Cybersecurity and IT Policy Group, said the Russians are “not as successful as they thought” they would be, but attacks persist with no end in sight. Cooperation between Lithuania’s government and private sector has been key in making Russian attacks less effective.
With Parliamentary elections set for October 13, Lithuania is pulling out all the stops on cyber protection. Russia has been investing heavily in cyberattacks and disinformation. Unquestionably, the elections will be a big test.
Liudas Alisauskas, Director of the National Cyber Security Centre, which is Lithuania’s equivalent of CISA (America’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency), praised the United States for its assistance over the years and for being Lithuania’s “Number 1” cybersecurity partner.
He emphasized that much of the assistance has gone to building up Lithuania’s internal capabilities.
It is now common for Russia, when it does not get what it wants from cyberattacks, to turn to China. This trend has accelerated in recent years as Lithuania has expanded its economic ties with Taiwan. There has also been good and deepening cooperation to thwart Chinese attacks between Lithuania and Taiwan, and other countries in the Pacific.
Other Baltic countries are facing similar attacks as Lithuania, and cooperation between them is also strong.
While it is far too soon to declare victory for Lithuania against relentless Russian cyberattacks, and the upcoming Parliamentary elections are a formidable test, the country’s general smooth functioning under these attacks is commendable. It also shows the benefits of international cooperation on cyberattacks, and of close cooperation between governments and the private sector.