Director of the Information Technology and Communications Department under the Interior Ministry Gintaras Čiurlionis says that the widely discussed virus had not been registered in networks of the interior system or computer networks of Lithuania's diplomatic missions.
In the beginning of January, world media reported a virus spreading in Eastern European countries and collecting documents encrypted with software of a few EU and NATO institutions.
According to news agency reports, Red October was identified by the Russia-based anti-virus software manufacturer Kaspersky Lab.
"We monitor information systems with the instruments that we have. With these instruments, we have not located the virus or damage caused by the virus. As you have said, we haven't observed the fact of leaked EU or NATO documents, as the system I have specified contains no NATO and EU documents," Čiurlionis told BNS.
The department looks after about 15,000 computerized workstations.
"The report refers to diplomatic missions. We are in contact with the Foreign Ministry and have no data of it being reported," he said.
In the expert's words, Lithuanian specialists cannot collect data about computer systems of foreign diplomatic missions in Lithuania, as they are supported by foreign specialists. However, data provided by Internet providers did not raise concern.
Čiurlionis said the field of cyber security contained "a lot of propaganda," as well.
"I am very skeptical about reports of a probe carried out by an anti-virus software company. I have been working in IT security for 20 years and I don't see any one anti-virus manufacturer as the only authority in cyber security," he said.
IT specialists of the defense system said that the viruses they had lately detected were not be linked to the Red October.
"Networks of the national defense system are subjected to considerably stricter security requirements than the usual, therefore, virus attacks are extremely rare. The information provided by Kaspersky about the Red October is insufficient to be linked with the viruses detected by the IT security systems of the Ministry of National Defense," the ministry said in a reply to BNS.
According to the press release issued by Kaspersky Lab on Monday, the Red October has been active since 2007 and mainly targets Eastern European countries, former Soviet republics, and countries in Central Asia, although it has been detected in Western Europe and North America.
According to the press release, the virus aims to collect “sensitive documents” in connection to geopolitical intelligence information or access closed computer systems.
