Estonia Fines Man For Cyber Attack

25 January 2008

BBC NEWS (TALLINN) -- A 20-year-old Russian man is the first person to be convicted for taking part in the "cyber war" against Estonia. Dmitri Galushkevich was fined USD 1635.23 for participating in the attack that lasted between 25 April and 4 May 2007. Prosecutors said Mr Galushkevich, a student, had claimed that the attack was an act of protest against Mr Ansip, who became a hate figure for Estonia's Russian minority. Most of the hackers were believed to be based in Russia and that Kremlin computers were used to carry out a number of the attacks. Mr Galushkevich is the first individual to be fined in connection with the attacks. Spokesman for the regional prosecutor's office in north-east, Gerrit Maesalu, said that the man had admitted his guilt and had no criminal record. Several other investigations into the events are under way, but no one else has yet been brought to trial. (Source Reliability: 8)

Comment: Although USD 1635.23 does not seem like a very big fine for such a disastrous cyber attack, there is a huge amount of people that were involved with this attack.

Analysis: Estonia is taking this attack very serious and will likely find and fine the hackers that participated in the attack. (Analytic Confidence: 6)