As confirmed by the NKSC, the institution had received a report from an individual about a potential security gap in the sponsorship platform in accordance with the “responsible principle of cyber security gap disclosure”, and after evaluating the received information, the report was confirmed.
Contribee itself informed about the elimination of the hole in the system in a letter distributed to users earlier this week, stating that the data is safe.
“All mandatory information about updates and changes has been forwarded to the State Data Protection Inspectorate and the National Cyber Security Center,” Contribee said.
After conducting the assessment, the NKSC had found that certain system files belonging to the users of the platform could be accessed by unauthorized third parties. The Cybersecurity Center ordered Contribee to submit a plan to fix the security vulnerabilities.
“Today, NKSC received a response from Contribee that the previously identified loophole has been fixed. After NKSC repeated the assessment of the gap, it was found that public access to the files was blocked,” NKSC said in its response to Elta.
The body subordinate to the Ministry of National Defense (KAM) also said that it does not have the legal authority to apply any kind of impact measures to the company – for example, sanctions.
The Contribee company is not a cyber security entity as defined in the Cyber Security Law,” the center emphasized.
On August 21, Contribee, which found itself at the epicenter of the scandal due to the possible embezzlement of funds from developers who used the platform by former company director Gedimins Ratkevičius, announced. on the eve of Contribee’s general meeting of shareholders, after receiving an offer from a private investor to buy out all the company’s shares.
The Kaunas District Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to Elta this week that the investigation related to Contribee is still ongoing. As previously stated by the Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė, the suspicions have not been brought against anyone yet.
About more than 130 thousand of the former Contribee manager. The embezzlement of euros from the account of Blue/Yellow, a non-governmental organization that collects support for Ukraine using the platform, was first reported by blogger Skirmantas Malinauskas.
As stated by the organization itself, the lack of a certain amount in the account was noticed at the beginning of the year, but after contacting Contribee, the funds were returned, so the organization did not experience any losses. Blue/Yellow itself claims that it has no plans to withdraw from the platform yet.
However, the journalism platforms “Redakcija” and “NARA”, the investigative journalism center “Siena”, journalist Dailius Dargis who creates content about criminals, “Laisvės TV” led by Andrias Tapinas and the podcast “Praložk đenų šalųu” have already announced the withdrawal.
As the news portal “Delfi” first announced, company director Adrijus Jakučionis informed developers using the platform in a letter about the circumstances of the dismissal of former director G. Ratkevičius. It has been alleged that one of Contribee’s shareholders has been fired because he entered into a loan agreement with the company, potentially misappropriating funds from the platform’s developers.
According to A. Jakučionis, in the past Contribee also did not submit financial declarations on time. Contribee last provided financial statements to the Registry Center for the year 2021, when the company’s losses amounted to more than 51 thousand. EUR, income amounted to 26.9 thousand. euros.
At the shareholders’ meeting at the end of August, it was confirmed that the company’s net profit last year amounted to almost 53 thousand. euros. In addition, it was decided to conduct an audit of the company’s financial activities, to replace the company’s board and to cover the debt to the State Tax Inspectorate (VMI). September 2 according to data, this arrears amounts to 69 thousand. EUR, debt to “Sodra” on September 3. – over 1.8 thousand euros. True, “Contribee” did not specify a specific term within which the arrears should be returned.
According to Delfi, Contribee has 13 shareholders: 31.5 percent. belongs to A. Jakučioni, 30.34 percent. – G. Ratkevičius, 16 percent. – To Mantas Michalauskas, who founded the company in 2020. Another 10.5 percent the company’s shares are held by the Second Co-Investment Fund, the rest by smaller investors.
Lithuanian developers began to switch to Contribee more and more in 2022, when after Russia started the war in Ukraine, American Patreon, a competitor of the Lithuanian platform, did not allow Ukrainian soldiers to transfer support.
2024-09-04 11:27:34