Cyber Incident Hits Latvia's State Forests; Several IT Systems Shut Down for Security

The state joint-stock company "Latvijas valsts meži" (LVM) has been hit by a cybersecurity incident, resulting in the suspension of several information systems.

Since the incident was detected, external systems maintained by LVM have been shut down for security reasons, including the geographic information system "LVM GEO", the map service system, and the hunting application "Mednis". Additionally, some internal systems that facilitate information exchange with service providers and customers have also been disconnected.

The company's IT team is working in emergency mode in close cooperation with the Cybersecurity Incident Response Institution cert.lv and other relevant state security authorities to mitigate the consequences of the incident and reduce the risk of similar occurrences in the future.

Māris Kuzmins, LVM's Director of IT Infrastructure and Development, stated that the IT environment required for the development of election systems was separate from the rest of the infrastructure. The company continues the work that began during the holiday period and will keep the public informed of further developments.

The Cybercrime Division of the State Police has initiated a supervisory check on its own initiative, based on publicly available information, to investigate the circumstances and identify the potential perpetrator.