Montenegro

2022 - 8 - 29

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Image courtesy of "The Record by Recorded Future"

Montenegro struggles to recover from cyberattack that officials ... (The Record by Recorded Future)

Montenegro's government is struggling to deal with a wide-ranging cyberattack targeting several ministries and agencies, while laying the blame for the ...

The current government of Prime Minister Dritan Abazović [was effectively removed from office by a no-confidence vote](https://www.euractiv.com/section/enlargement/news/montenegros-parliament-passes-no-confidence-motion-on-cabinet/) ten days ago and the country is facing the prospect of snap elections. “It’s a very serious matter, and this is a very serious attack. In my opinion, this is a politically-motivated attack,” Abazović [Romania](https://therecord.media/romanian-government-says-websites-attacked-by-pro-russian-group/), [Italy](https://therecord.media/italy-killnet-hacking-military-parliament-national-health-institute/), [Lithuania](https://therecord.media/russian-hacking-group-takes-credit-for-wide-ranging-cyberattack-on-lithuania/), [Norway](https://therecord.media/norway-accuses-pro-russian-hackers-of-launching-wave-of-ddos-attacks/), [Poland](https://therecord.media/ukraine-and-poland-agree-to-jointly-counter-russian-cyberattacks/), [Finland and Latvia](https://therecord.media/pro-kremlin-hackers-target-latvias-parliament-after-declaring-russia-a-sponsor-of-terrorism/) have been attacked by pro-Russian hacking groups since the invasion of Ukraine in February. “Since late last night, Montenegro has been exposed to a new series of organized cyber attacks on the government’s IT infrastructure. [said](https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/cyberattack-hits-montenegro-government-defence-minister-points-at-russia/). Dukaj said IT systems were not permanently damaged and denied that any data was stolen during the attack. As of Monday afternoon Eastern Standard Time, several government websites were still unreachable. [blamed](https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/cyberattack-hits-montenegro-government-defence-minister-points-at-russia/) Russia, questioning who else would have a motive to target state IT systems. [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/montenegros-state-infrastructure-hit-by-cyber-attack-officials-2022-08-26/). [second in recent weeks](https://www.rferl.org/a/montenegro-cyberattack-russia/32006237.html) as the country struggles with [a political crisis over its ties to Russia](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/29/whats-behind-montenegros-political-instability). [Jonathan Greig](https://therecord.media/author/jonathan-greig/)

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Image courtesy of "Aljazeera.com"

What is behind Montenegro's political instability? (Aljazeera.com)

A no-confidence vote has prompted the collapse of Montenegro's government after just three and a half months in office.

“Unfortunately, the formation of such a coalition has not been in sight yet.” Unfortunately, the formation of such a coalition has not been in sight yet,” Tzifakis said. If Montenegro cannot eventually advance towards EU membership, the EU is deprived of its selected success story to induce regional reforms,” he said. Djukanović’s and DPS’s long reign has created many enemies, but the anti-DPS camp is ideologically and politically too diverse and fragmented to create a viable and stable governing alternative in the near future.” In Montenegro, about 30 percent of citizens identify themselves as Serbs. However, it soon became clear that the governing coalition was too heterogeneous and could not move the country beyond ousting DPS from power much further,” he told Al Jazeera. In this way, it has rendered itself almost indispensable for forming any subsequent governing coalition. “The country needs to form a coalition among all its pro-reform and EU-oriented political parties and civil society actors that would inspire the people to vote for genuine political change in early parliamentary elections,” Tzifakis concluded. “The country needs to form a coalition among all its pro-reform and EU-oriented political parties and civil society actors that would inspire the people to vote for genuine political change in early parliamentary elections. “In reality, the recent agreement between Abazović’s government and the Serbian Orthodox Church was a key reason for pro-Montenegrin and pro-European camps to trigger a vote of no-confidence on the government,” Krasniqi said. “Notwithstanding different interpretations of this agreement, it is a well-known fact that any interference of religious institutions in politics and the public sphere has the potential to inflate tensions further and widen the rift in divided societies,” he added. “As a result, not only has the DPS again acquired a check on power and the handling of issues such as the fight against corruption and organised crime, but it has also contributed to solidifying and widening the gap among the former governing coalition partners.

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Image courtesy of "Balkan Insight"

Montenegro Still Assessing Damage From Mystery Cyber Attacks (Balkan Insight)

Minister of Public Administration warns that organized cyber attacks on Montenegrin government servers are continuing, while speculation continues about the ...

The government has not adopted a new Cyber Security Strategy after the last one became outdated in 2021. “It’s possible that someone deliberately released a virus into the government servers in order to steal confidential information, correspondence or reports,” he posted on Facebook. “There is a real possibility that a cyber-attack on the government’s IT infrastructure could have been organized by both individuals and organized criminal groups… “We do not have clear information about the organizers. The ANB did not respond to BIRN requests about the cyber-attacks’ investigation’s results. “The damage is being repaired and we are assessing its extent.

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Image courtesy of "BleepingComputer"

Montenegro says Russian cyberattacks threaten key state functions (BleepingComputer)

Members of the government in Montenegro are stating that the country is being hit with sophisticated and persistent cyberattacks that threaten the country's ...

In response to this situation, the U.S. At the time of writing, the official website of the government of Montenegro is unreachable. Members of the government in Montenegro are stating that the country is being hit with sophisticated and persistent cyberattacks that threaten the country’s essential infrastructure.

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Image courtesy of "Tech Monitor"

Russian hackers blamed for ongoing Montenegro cyberattack (Tech Monitor)

Critical infrastructure including power plants and water supplies have been hit by the ongoing cyberattack on Montenegro.

This will mean that the organisation is in a position to quickly recover from an attack and resume business as usual.” Montenegro is getting support from NATO allies in the fight against the attacks with France dispatching the French Agency for Information Security Systems to defend critical systems and restore compromised networks. The malware in question is listed on the dark web for between $100,000 and $2.5m. A huge amount of money was invested in this attack on our system.” I think there is enough (evidence) to suspect that Russia is behind the attack,” Konjevic said in a television interview. Defence Minister Rasko Konjevic said this weekend he believes a Russian-backed group is behind the attack, which has been ongoing since 22 August.

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