"Latvia's cyberspace is currently experiencing increased activity linked to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Several cyber incidents have been observed, but the situation is under control, and the information technology security incident prevention institution CERT.LV, in cooperation with the organizations affected by the incident, are actively working to prevent their consequences," the Ministry said.
"As Russia's aggression against Ukraine continues, activity in cyberspace and the number of cyber incidents are expected to increase. The responsible institutions are ready for such a development scenario – there is a clear action plan to prevent the consequences of cyber incidents and restore the normal operation of information technology systems.
"To protect itself from various digital security risks, inconvenient situations, and financial losses, the Ministry of Defense calls on the public to pay close attention to cyber hygiene. This means that everyone must take care of the security of their equipment: do not open unknown links, avoid downloading various media files, including movies, games and other files from suspicious sites, instal antivirus software and make all necessary updates to both the machine's operating system and applications.
"The public must also be prepared for the growth of misinformation or false news in the information space in order to influence public opinion and encourage panic, therefore the Ministry of Defense calls on the public to critically evaluate the content of published news and its sources.
"We invite you to use only reliable sources of information - websites of state institutions and profiles of social media accounts, as well as media that have proven themselves as objective means of information!
"At the same time, we emphasize that there is no direct military threat to Latvia, however, we confirm that the National Armed Forces are ready to respond to any threat scenarios if the security of the Latvian population and national sovereignty will be threatened," the Ministry of Defense added.
Later on Thursday the Ministry gave a practical example of what they were talking about, pointing out that the WhatsApp communication application is currently spreading a fake message in Russian, misleadingly announcing the new communication regulations that will come into force in Latvia from tomorrow.
It is falsely claimed that all calls, phone calls, and Whatsapp messages and calls will be recorded. It's complete baloney, so if you happen to receive anything like that, press 'delete' and possibly 'block'.
The Ministry of Defense emphasizes that this is a false message spread to create insecurity and mistrust in the state and calls for it not to be passed on, thus preventing the spread of misinformation.
As previously reported by LSM, a special crisis booklet has also been prepared, which residents might like to download and refer to.
Here at LSM we will also be keeping an eye on our social media and comments sections, so apologies in advance if we rub out what you thought was a really great comment or comeback. And apologies for the headline, too, but after a while it becomes difficult to treat such drivel in a respectful manner.
