Montenegro Still Assessing Damage From Mystery Cyber Attacks

Montenegrin National Security Council session in Podgorica. Photo: Government of Montenegro

Since August 22, the government has reported two series of cyber-attacks on government servers, claiming they managed to prevent any damage.

"The damage is being repaired and we are assessing its extent. The system will suffer no lasting effects. A huge amount of money was invested in this attack on our system," Dukaj told a press conference.

Head of State Cyber Security Service Dusan Polovic said the authorities are not able to activate some services online, and a certain number of workstations are compromised.

"The cost of the virus used for the first attacks on the dark web is from 100 thousand to 2.5 million dollars," said Polovic.

On August 26, the Ministry of Public Administration said some government servers were temporarily taken offline, while the Agency for National Security, ANB, accused Russian services of organizing coordinated cyber-attacks on government servers. The ANB said Montenegro was caught up in a "hybrid war", claiming that an attack had been prepared for a long time.

The ANB did not respond to BIRN requests about the cyber-attacks' investigation's results. The head of the Electric Company, Milutin Djukanovic, on Monday meanwhile said ANB chief Savo Kentera had warned him about potential cyber-attacks on the electricity system, so they switched to a manual operating system.

On August 26, the US embassy in Montenegro warned its citizens that cyber-attacks may include disruptions to public utility, transportation and telecommunication sectors.

After a National Security session on August 26, outgoing Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic described the cyber-attacks as dangerous, but added that citizens' personal...

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