President pardons inventor convicted over CSDD security vulnerability

Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs has pardoned inventor Raimonds Skuruls, who was convicted of extortion after discovering a security vulnerability in the Road Traffic Safety Directorate’s information technology system, LSM reported.

The president’s adviser Mārtiņš Drēģeris said Rinkēvičs had reviewed the court rulings and did not question their legality. However, considering the importance of state information-system security, public interest in cybersecurity and efforts to encourage the good-faith disclosure of vulnerabilities, the president concluded that the public benefit of Skuruls’ actions had been significantly greater than the harm caused.

Rinkēvičs decided on Tuesday to release Skuruls from serving his principal sentence and remove his criminal record, under Article 45 of Latvia’s Constitution and Article 4 of the Pardon Law.

Earlier in September, a ruling by the Vidzeme Regional Court entered into force, imposing a 4,290-euro fine on Skuruls for extortion related to the security vulnerability he found in the Road Traffic Safety Directorate’s IT system.

In November 2018, the Road Traffic Safety Directorate and State Police said they had uncovered an unauthorised attempt to access the vehicle register and an attempt to extort money. Criminal proceedings were launched over an alleged attempt to disrupt the information system and extortion for financial gain. Police detained Skuruls and held him in a short-term detention facility for several days.

Skuruls is a radio engineer and design engineer. He previously received the Valters Caps Award, presented by the Latvian Academy of Sciences and the Latvian Patent Office for an invention.