Fintech CEO: As Lithuania Breaks Energy Ties with Russia, Risk of Cybercrime Further Heightens

This week, Lithuania’s Energy Ministry released a statement which noted that the country is now completely independent from Russian natural gas. It read, in part, “Seeking full energy independence from Russian gas, in response to Russia’s energy blackmail in Europe and the war in Ukraine, Lithuania has completely abandoned Russian gas.” Lithuanian leaders called on other EU countries to make the same move to withdraw from Russian economic influence.

“Lithuania is in a unique position as it abuts Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast. The country has historic ties to Russia, and that history should carry influence larger than typical for a small country with less than three million people — especially as proposals emerge for a LNG terminal located in Paldiski, which would be an Estonian joint venture with Latvia and Finland. Due to their geography, these countries see a more urgent Russian threat, but as the world continues to divest from Russian energy, there will be a need to find new streams of revenue to finance the war effort,” said Richard Gardner, CEO of Modulus, a US-based developer of ultra-high-performance trading and surveillance technology that powers global equities, derivatives, and digital asset exchanges.

“From this month on – no more Russian gas in Lithuania.Years ago my country made decisions that today allow us with no pain to break energy ties with the agressor. If we can do it, the rest of Europe can do it too,” tweeted Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda.

“If you’re Russia and the world won’t buy your energy resources, where do you turn? It doesn’t require you to stretch your imagination very far to realize that, in a conflict which is actively employing cyberwarfare, the government could find hacking to be an appropriate avenue of revenue generation. Whether that is focusing hackers on digital asset exchanges or engaging more heavily in cyber-based extortion campaigns remains to be seen. However, these exchanges are giant honeypots, and, right now, Russia is the equivalent of a hungry bear,” said Gardner.

“Practically, it will be difficult to extract large amounts of stolen assets to use for homeland activities like paying troops, which may make the endeavor less attractive. However, it would be completely naïve to think that the idea isn’t on the table,” said Gardner.

Modulus is known throughout the financial technology segment as a leader in the development of ultra-high frequency trading systems and blockchain technologies. Modulus has provided its exchange solution to some of the industry’s most profitable digital asset exchanges, including a well-known multi-billion-dollar cryptocurrency exchange. Over the past twenty years, the company has built technology for the world’s most notable institutions, with a client list which includes NASA, NASDAQ, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Barclays, Siemens, Shell, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Cornell University, and the University of Chicago.

“It is more important than ever for financial exchanges, including those dealing in cryptocurrencies, to be on high alert. For the many exchanges that have historically focused more heavily on marketing than security, now is the time to flip the script and lockdown your security apparatus. Good enough isn’t good enough. Your innovation is only as good as the security that protects it,” said Gardner.