"We need to understand that publicity is a very important part of these attacks. If we don't talk about them, the other side will lose motivation. When we talk, when we talk about alleged victories, about alleged punishment of Lithuania, it's motivating the other side," Margiris Abukevicius told the Ziniu Radijas news radio on Tuesday.
Lithuanian institutions and businesses were hit with wide-ranging cyber attacks in late June, and Ignitis Grupe (Ignitis Group), Lithuania's state-owned energy group, reported the biggest cyber attack in a decade last Saturday.
Abukevicius says the impact of these attacks "is relatively small, despite the effort made".
"We in Lithuania should not be so hooked on this and we often hear that the sky has been falling here for the last three weeks. It’s definitely not. Yes, we have attacks, some of them disruptive, but we don't see those incidents or those efforts that don't achieve any goal and don't affect the delivery of services at all. There are also many of those, and I think that's what we should say: that despite the effort, despite the coordination, the impact of these attacks is small," Abukevicius said.
He says the number of failed attacks is much higher than the number of successful ones, adding that only a few incidents over the three weeks were more visible, but even these did not cause lasting damage.
These attacks have two audiences, the vice minister pointed out. In Russia, attempts are being made to show that Lithuania is being punished and to produce "non-existent success stories" by hyping up the achievements of pro-Russian hackers.
"The other thing is the Lithuanian audience as we see how tensions can be raised through attacks. We also have experts who say that Lithuania is not ready and that Lithuania has once again rushed naked into the nettles, and so on. Trying to raise tensions is also one of Russia's goals", Abukevicius warned.
Lithuania's state institutions, state-owned companies, private businesses and online media in Lithuania have been hit by DDoS attacks recently, with the Killnet group, which, Lithuanian officials say, is linked to Russian intelligence that claimed responsibility for such attacks.