An attack “of the greatest intensity”. The words of the Montenegrin Minister of Public Service, Maras Dukaj, refer to the cyberattack that Montenegro suffered on Saturday August 27. Some Montenegrin officials see it as the hand of Russia, even if the Prime Minister remains cautious about the origin of this act. For its part, France will bring its expertise in cybersecurity to government institutions in Montenegro, at the request of this NATO member country targeted by a major computer attack on government institutions.
Government institutions in Montenegro were targeted on Saturday and since the day before by a major computer attack and some officials see it as the hand of Russia, even if the Prime Minister remains cautious about the origin of this act.
This is the second cyberattack in a week, after a first wave having struck institutions in this country of 620,000 inhabitants and a member of NATO, in the wake of a motion of censure which overthrew on August 19 its government and “aggravated the country’s political instability”, notes the Balkan Insight website. For several weeks, political tensions have been at their height in the country, particularly between the government and the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Montenegrin Civil Service Minister Maras Dukaj said on Saturday that it was the “most intense attack” to have been committed. The computer systems of several institutions were “infected”, including that of the Ministry of Finance, he added. “Thanks to the rapid measures, there was no lasting damage to the IT infrastructure,” he tweeted.
Maras Dukaj had assured Friday evening that “the accounts of citizens and companies, like their data, (were) not threatened”. According to the same source, “all essential infrastructure” is at risk, including electricity and water supply systems. The power plants have switched to the manual mode of operation.
After convening the National Security Council late Friday to decide on the measures to be taken, the head of government Dritan Abazovic, who manages current affairs, did not speak about the origins of this attack, but his Minister of Defense named Russia. “We were unable to confirm, at the council, by people competent in this field, whether an individual, a group or a State was behind (this attack), but we could not exclude that either”, said Dritan Abazovic at a press conference.
For Defense Minister Rasko Konjevic, these are “very sophisticated attacks that cannot be carried out by individuals”. “Who could have some sort of political interest to inflict such damage on Montenegro? I think there are enough (elements) to suspect that Russia is behind the attack,” Rasko Konjevic told television. national. Several media, citing an “informal briefing” for the local press at the National Security Agency (ANB), said on Saturday that the attack was carried out by “several Russian services”.
Despite strong historical ties, relations between Russia and Montenegro have cooled, especially since 2014, when Montenegro, aiming for NATO membership, joined the previous sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU and the United States for its annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula and its participation in the fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Ties frayed further in 2016 when Montenegro accused Russia of sponsoring a failed coup attempt allegedly designed to prevent Montenegro from joining NATO. In May 2019, the High Court of Montenegro sentenced 13 people, including two leaders of the pro-Serb Democratic Front, two Russian intelligence officers and eight Serbs to custodial sentences of up to 15 years for organizing the coup attempt.
Moscow added Montenegro to its list of “enemy countries” in March after it aligned itself with European Union sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine in February.
