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VILNIUS, Lithuania: NATO member Lithuania has blocked plans to build the Baltic state’s largest privately-owned data center after intelligence services warned that Russian spies could hack into it, officials said Monday.
A government-appointed commission last year concluded that the proposed $60 million (57-million-euro) facility poses a national security threat, court documents showed.
Darius Jauniskis, head of Lithuania’s State Security Department, told AFP in a statement that his agency was concerned about the “links” shareholders in the planned data center had to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
A Lithuanian security official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said Russian agents could gain access to the center through a planned fiber-optic cable.
The threat of Russian cybertattacks has become a major concern following a US intelligence report on Russian meddling in that country’s recent presidential election.
Registered in Lithuania, IT companies Arcus Novus and AmberCore DC which planned to open the data storage center, have denied any links to Russian intelligence and have filed a legal complaint.
Arcus Novus director Vidmantas Tomkus told local news agency BNS he was unaware of Russian FSB links but was ready to cooperate with local authorities.
Two years ago, AmberCore DC said it reached a deal with IBM to design the facility near the Lithuanian capital Vilnius and said it would be “a viable option for worldwide clients wishing to house data in a geographically and politically safe environment.”
Since the start of the Ukraine crisis in 2014, Russia has raised tensions in the Baltic region by staging a series of war games involving tens of thousands of troops in areas bordering NATO states like Lithuania.