Prague, March 29 (CTK) – IT experts say that the traces of the hacker attack on the Czech Foreign Ministry uncovered at the beginning of the year lead to Russia, daily Lidove noviny (LN) writes today.
The hackers acquired delicate information with which they can make the diplomats’ lives difficult, LN writes.
One can read from the internal documents who of them is really competent, it adds.
In the past, Russian authorities expelled the best of Czech diplomats from Russia, LN writes.
“When Moscow was selecting undesirable persons, it always targeted the most competent ones,” a diplomatic source is quoted as saying.
The hacker attack may have lasted for several years, LN writes, referring to two independent sources close to the investigation into the incident about which the public was informed at the end of January.
The exact time was not uncovered because the attacked system only stores the records on its operation for a year, it adds.
A working group has been formed to find out the degree of the damage incurred, LN writes.
The National Security Office (NBU) and specialists from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCKB) have the main say in it, it adds.
The hackers gained sensitive information on foreign policy of the Czech Republic and its allies, LN writes.
They acquired sensitive data from the “telegrams in claris” (TIC). In them, embassies inform the Prague centre on what is going on in their territories.
The Foreign Ministry has denied the leak of TICs and the NBU has declined to comment on the affair, LN writes.
The Foreign Ministry argues that the transfer of TIC proceeds “through a different, separate network, not attached to the Internet,” it adds.
However, referring to its own findings, LN writes that if a TIC does not include some clearly classified information, it is routinely used in diplomats’ email messages.
Czech allies are on alert over the leaked data.
“They are waiting for what will surface. However, they are only getting the information from the media,” a s0ecurity source is quoted as saying.
The Foreign Ministry says that it is working hard on the enhancement of the protection of its systems, LN writes.
For this, it demands more IT experts and money.
“In a direct reaction to the attacks, a number of changes have occurred in order to strengthen the security of the attacked information system,” Aneta Kovarova, from the Foreign Ministry press department, wrote to LN.
“The hackers attacked the system that was not placed in the critical information infrastructure or the important information systems,” NBU spokesman Radek Holy has told the paper.
It is worth mentioning the way the attack was uncovered. The hackers attacked the system that allowed up to ten unsuccessful log-ins. Following the eleventh try, the system was closed and alarm was sounded, LN writes.
According to the web info.cz, the hackers managed to steal 7,119 documents, including 48 directly from the box of Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek, LN writes.
