LSM portal briefly suspended over cybersecurity risks; government websites also being restored

To avoid possible cybersecurity risks, the website of Latvian Public Media, LSM.lv, was temporarily suspended on the evening of Wednesday, 21 October. LSM.lv is the news portal of Latvia's public media, and the suspension affected its users in Latvia.

At present, the Latvian Radio website and the recordings in the Latvian Radio mobile app are still not working. Work is under way to restore them. The public media apologised to users for the inconvenience.

A global vulnerability

According to the announcement, the vulnerability that was found is global. It affects a large number of websites both in Latvia and abroad, so the problem is not limited to a single media portal.

On the same evening, websites of ministries and other state institutions were also down for several hours. Their operation is now being gradually restored, and most of these online resources are available again.

The source does not describe the technical nature of the vulnerability, say when the Latvian Radio website and app recordings will be fully back, or indicate whether any data leaks or attack attempts took place. Further information is expected as the situation develops.