Slovenia faces another wave of cyberattacks, targeting several government websites, including those of the central bank and the Statistics Office. State Secretary Vojko Volk confirmed the onslaught of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, focusing on domains like the government’s main portal gov.si. The Slovenian central bank’s website has been inaccessible since the previous day, along with the Statistics Office’s site, while the president’s site experienced a brief outage on April 10. Institutions like the Constitutional Court and the Competition Protection Agency have also been targeted.
To address the cyber threat, Prime Minister Robert Golob announced increased funding and additional staff to bolster cybersecurity measures. Volk believes these steps will enhance Slovenia’s ability to defend against future attacks. Despite the challenges, he assures the public that Slovenia remains safe and stable in dealing with cyber incidents. While attributing most cyberattacks to the Russian regime, he emphasizes that not all incidents are linked to Russia.
Experts caution that DDoS attacks, though less sophisticated, can instill fear and disrupt public services significantly. The recent assaults come after similar attacks on Slovenian state institutions, media outlets, and state-owned companies in late March and early April. A Russian cybercriminal group previously claimed responsibility for those attacks, citing Slovenia’s support for Ukraine as the motive. Analysts predict ongoing cyber tensions and expect active developments in cyberattacks to persist for at least two more years.