EU state’s PM links massive cyberattack to ‘foreign’ forces

A massive cyberattack targeting Slovakia’s state General Health Insurance Company (VSZP) was orchestrated by foreign forces that were also active in Ukraine during the 2014 Maidan coup, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Foco has claimed.

Speaking at a joint news conference with the country’s Health Minister Kamil Sasko on Friday, Fico claimed the operation sought to paralyze the nation’s healthcare system.

The attack involved a “huge number of attempts to obtain sensitive information from the VSZP,” including patients’ personal data, the prime minister said. If successful, it could disrupt the operation of the healthcare system on a nationwide scale, he warned. Administration of drugs to cancer and cardiology patients could be affected, according to Slovak media reports.

Sasko stated that the VSZP was able to withstand the attack, which began on Friday afternoon, adding that both the insurance firm and the National Health Information Centre (NCZI) were “in crisis mode” and being closely monitored by the authorities.

Fico branded the incident a “textbook example” of a scheme used to punish a “disobedient government that has a different view on some things.” The prime minister has long been a staunch critic of the EU’s approach to the Ukraine conflict.

Fico has also refused to provide arms to Kiev and called for the conflict with Russia to be resolved through negotiations instead.

The prime minister has also called for dialogue with Russia and pledged to attend the 80th anniversary WWII Victory Day celebrations in Moscow this year, expressing his commitment to honoring the sacrifices of the Red Army and the Soviet people in defeating Axis powers.

Most recently, Fico clashed with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky over Kiev’s refusal to extend a natural gas transit agreement with Russia after it expired late last year.

Fico linked the Friday attack to a similar incident targeting the national information system of the Geodesy, Cartography and Cadaster Office, which faced a significant cyberattack last week. A few days after the incident, the nation’s interior ministry suggested that it could have been orchestrated from Ukraine, a Slovak ‘Pravda’ news media outlet reported.

The group involved in both attacks was also active in Georgia and in Ukraine, particularly during the 2014 Maidan coup, the prime minister claimed.

Earlier this week, Fico warned about a group of operatives supposedly plotting a coup in Slovakia. Citing a confidential report compiled by the Slovak Information Service (SIS) intelligence agency, Fico said that the group was “strictly monitored.” The country’s opposition has dismissed the report as a compilation of “conspiracy theories.”