SOCshare July 2024: Police Virtual Patrol and the cyber threats they see

Hate speech and the display of prohibited symbols are the cyber threats most frequently reported by the Police Virtual Patrol. In the first half of 2024, officers received a total of 3,818 reports. 223 administrative offence proceedings and 14 pre-trial investigations were opened.

Officers, who are constantly monitoring the digital space, recorded a greater increase in reports before the Pride march. Issues related to the war in Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remain sensitive topics. In Lithuania hate speech is defined in Article 170 of the Penal Code as incitement against any national, racial, ethnic, religious or other group of people. The most commonly identified types of hate speech are publicly ridiculing, stigmatising, promoting discrimination or inciting hatred against a particular group on the basis of age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, etc. Violations of the use of prohibited symbols are defined in Article 524 of the Code of Administrative Offences. These include the distribution and display of Nazi, communist and totalitarian symbols. According to the representative of the Virtual Patrol, the most frequent use of communist symbols is the use of the hammer and sickle or the use of Georgian ribbons.

Increase in reports ahead of Vilnius Pride

The Virtual Patrol both proactively monitors various channels on a regular basis and receives reports from people who have noticed possible violations.

“We have been monitoring the digital space for three years. We are constantly checking certain Facebook groups, news portal accounts or the sources of reports observed by citizens. We see a spike in potential infringements before various sensitive events. A recent example is Vilnius Pride which took place in early June. A week before the event, we noticed incitement to hatred in the comments under news portals’ reports – incitement to confrontation and physical violence on the grounds of sexual orientation”, says Tomas Špigelskis, Chief Investigator of the Prevention Division of the Police Department.

According to the official, hate speech is sometimes seen in virtual space from both sides of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Mr. Špigelskis points out that since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, hate speech against Russians and Ukrainians has been common.

Prohibited symbols

A police officer notes that the use of banned symbols is still motivated by nostalgia for the Soviet era or to express support for Russia. These include communist symbols such as the hammer and sickle or the Georgian stripes. “Even sharing a banned symbol posted by another person on a personal Facebook account can also be considered an infringement,” notes Mr. Špigelskis. Officials monitoring the digital space find most of the information, assess it and then pass it on to their colleagues to make it as easy as possible to investigate a possible infringement. Citizens who see infringements in cyberspace can report them via a private message on the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/policijosvirtualuspatrulis.

Suspicious activities intensified after the proposal to abandon Russian in schools

A team from Vilnius Municipality is also carrying out preventive monitoring of potential cyber threats on the darkweb, and in various groups of the social network “Telegram”.

“We usually see an increase in hostile groups after various political statements or decisions related to Russia or China. For example, after news about a proposal to abandon Russian language teaching in schools or news about cooperation between Lithuania and Taiwan reported in the media,” says Jonas Pidkovas, Head of the Innovation Technology Group at Vilnius City Municipality Administration.

According to the expert, teams are then organised in forums and plans are made to undermine certain institutions in the digital space – to “hack” pages or systems. “Then we monitor the situation more closely, what is planned to be attacked, whether it is a school network or a municipality’s website, and react accordingly,” says Mr. Pidkovas.

Sharing signs of potential cyber threats

Cybersecurity experts note that both the use of hate speech and the use of banned symbols can be added to the list of cybersecurity threats. According to Vilius Benetis, Director of NRD Cyber Security, the source of cybersecurity threats is always people. “Some people do it for personal reasons and for more adrenaline, others for financial gain, and still others for the strategic interests of countries. It is likely that much of the disinformation, hate speech or symbols are spread at the behest of a specific country, such as Russia or Belarus, through information attacks on social networks,” – the cybersecurity expert notes.

NRD Cyber Security experts also carry out cyber threat intelligence. Analysts working in Lithuania conduct cyber threat intelligence on a regular basis. They filter darkweb forums, Telegram social networking groups, monitor information on publicly available online discussion and message boards and the social network X. The company is currently implementing the SOCshare project together with the Vilnius Municipality, which enables the collection and sharing of signs of cyber-attacks and hacking, as well as the recognition and response to indicators of potential threats.

This news piece was prepared in cooperation with the Lithuanian Police Virtual Patrol and Vilnius City Municipality Administration. Published on 15min.lt and lrytas.lt