Lithuania nixes data center because of fiber-optic network connections to Russia: Reuters

Reuters reports that the government of Lithuania ordered a halt to construction of a data center because of fears a planned fiber-optic network link to Russia would risk the nation's security.

A report last year by the government's counter-intelligence agency cited Russian hackers as the greatest threat to Lithuania's security, the Reuters article states. A 2014 law gives the Lithuanian government the power to block investments in energy, transport, information technology, and finance because of national security concerns, the article adds.

Reuters quotes a spokesman for Darius Jauniskis, Lithuania's counter-intelligence head, as saying they alerted the government that if the data center were linked to Russia via a fiber-optic link, it could be linked by Russia's Federal Security Service to its radio electronic reconnaissance network.

Meanwhile, Arcus Nous, a Lithuanian-registered construction firm that hoped to build the data center, is suing to get the order reversed. Reuters quoted the company's CEO as saying that it was "a bit laughable" to quash the data center when the country is already connected to Russia via existing fiber-optic cables.

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