http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,21870446-5013040,00.html
Correspondents in Tallinn
June 08, 2007
ESTONIA will call on the European Union to define cyber attacks as "acts
of terror", Estonian Justice Minister Rein Lang said. "We're inclined to
view such things as acts of terror, just as the Americans view them
now," Mr Lang said
"I predict a fairly interesting discussion on this" he added.
At the same news conference, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip reiterated
accusations that computers in Kremlin had carried out a number of the
cyber attacks launched on Estonian institutions after a row with Russia
at the end of April over the removal of a Soviet war memorial from the
centre of Tallinn.
He and Lang added that the attacks were well organised and, regardless
of whether the Kremlin had knowledge of them, were a serious breach of
security.
"These attacks came directly from the IP address of the (Russian)
president's office," Mr Ansip said.
Mr Lang said: "If the computers (in the Kremlin) were used
unintentionally, then that means there are computers in the Russian
administration which may be used for criminal attacks."
"It's clear the attacks were an organised offensive against the
information systems of the Estonian state structures and against the
infrastructure of the state in general," he said.
Moscow has denied any involvement in the massive cyber attacks against
Estonia, which forced the authorities here to temporarily bar access to
official state websites. Some of the attacks also targeted private
interests such as banks.
Received on Fri Jun 8 09:06:19 2007