Karanac Spring Fair: 12 Year Old Beats Competition with Huge Slab of Bacon
April 5. 2023 - If you know that Croatia has an eastern part, you know it's where the wine and gastro region of Baranja lies. And if you know about Baranja, you know about Karanac - good for food, festivals, and even crypto. Among its most famous events is the Spring Fair, where traditional food, music, and dances are presented and celebrated. The central part of the whole thing is the Smokehouse Princess award given out for the heaviest slab of bacon, of course.
As Glas Slavonije writes, this time, the winner was Matija Povoljnjak from Jagodnjak, a 12-year-old with just a little help from his father. The boy brought the heaviest bacon, weighing 19.5 kilograms, to Saturday's Spring Fair in Karanac, which was declared this year's smokehouse princess.
His father, Zlatko, the owner of the OPG of the same name, taught Matija the secrets of the pig and pork business from an early age.
"Dad gave me a pig that I took care of. When she became a sow from a piglet, we did the butchery and left a big slab of bacon. It needs to be seasoned, smoked, and later dried in the air", Matija explained after a dozen slabs of bacon were weighed and he was announced the winner. When asked about the fate of the smokehouse princess, Matija, with a smile, answered briefly: "We will eat it."
OPG Zlatko Povoljnjak produced last year's smokehouse princess as well, which weighed 15.6 kilograms. This year's "silver" was the Lovrenčić family bacon weighing 19 kilograms, and the "bronze" was the OPG Kopljar slab of 16.50 kilograms.
Before the bacon weighing, an interesting game was played, which the organizers called "Who hangs the longest." All those interested had to hold a 7.3-kilogram ham with both hands outstretched. The longest time anyone held it was 3.45 minutes, by Mario Sokač, who did not have to return the ham to the organizer since the prop itself was the main prize. All participants paid five euros to participate in the competition, and all the proceeds were donated to an ill resident of Karanac.
Considering the rain, this year's fair in Karanac attracted a relatively large number of people. Among the visitors was even a TV crew from Korea. The offer was slightly more modest than usual, but everyone could find something for themselves.
"We also organized this fair to preserve our local products, which you can taste and buy directly from the producers. These are not products found in plastic wraps or under lights in retail chains. These are all ours and local. This festival only shows that we are on the right track, because the number of visitors is increasing year by year, and we haven't done anything special. We're just doing what we've always done. Not even us, but our grandfathers", said Vladimir Škrobo Bajo, the event's initiator.
Matej Perkušić, the Baranja Tourist Board director, is happy with the turnout. He reiterated that similar events complement Baranja's tourist offer, especially since more accommodation is requested in Baranja during their events.
For more, make sure to check out our dedicated Lifestyle section.
How to Croatia - Using a Foreign EHIC to Access Public Croatian Healthcare
April the 5th, 2023 - If you're the citizen of an EU country or a legal resident of an EU country covered by their public healthcare system, you'll own a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). You can use this card to access certain types of free Croatian healthcare in some cases. Here's how to use it, and what it covers.
First things first, an EHIC is intended for temporary stays in other EU countries, and is (in most cases) for emergency healthcare/unplanned use only.
What does that mean?
You've eaten some oysters and now all of a sudden you can't stop, erm... paying a ''visit to the bathroom''. You've decided to try to climb up Biokovo in flipflops and upon falling, your ankle has altered its shape and somehow doesn't support your weight anymore. You went for a relaxing swim in the idyllic Adriatic and stepped on a sea urchin. You get the picture.
If you come unstuck in some way, injured or unwell and you need medical help, you can use your EHIC to access public Croatian healthcare, at very little cost to yourself. Here's how to navigate that:
Finding a doctor
You'll need to find a doctor who has a contract with HZZO (the Croatian Health Insurance Fund) in order to be treated for whatever your problem is, which clearly is not clearing up on its own but doesn't necessarily require hospitalisation. A doctor with a contract with HZZO will treat you upon the presentation of your EHIC, and you'll often be required to pay a symbolic fee in the form of a copay of just under 1.50 euros (that is one euro, fifty cents) which is 10 kuna.
Medical emergencies
Ambulance transportation to hospital in the case of an emergency is covered by your EHIC/HZZO.
Hospitals
You will be treated in any Croatian hospital which has a contract with HZZO. These are typically state hospitals. In some cases, hospital treatment is not entirely free through the use of an EHIC, and you'll need to pay a copay for each day of your hospital stay, this copay is usually around 13-14 euros per day (approximately 100 kuna). The good news is that patient fees are capped at just over 260 euros (2000 kuna). You will need a referral from a GP (called uputnica in Croatian) to access hospital/specialist treatment.
Dentists
Unlike in some European countries which have socialised healthcare, and the United Kingdom is a good example of this being totally different -- dentists in Croatia who have contracts with HZZO will also treat patients for free or for small copays. This is also true for foreign EHIC holders. You'll be able to be treated under Croatian healthcare by a dentist who has a contract with HZZO, and you'll just pay the same approximate 1.50 (10 kuna) copay for your treatment.
Prescriptions
If you need to be prescribed medication, as perhaps it has been determined you have some sort of bacterial infection and as such require a course of antibiotics, you'll need a prescription from a GP through a pharmacy which has a contract with HZZO. Much like in the case with primary care doctors and dentists, you'll need to pay the symbolic 1.50 (10 kuna) copay per prescription issued.
Caveats
Croatian citizens and Croatian residents who have HZZO still need to pay copays for their treatment in the vast majority of cases, you're not being singled out for being a foreigner.
The Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO) shouldn't be your point of contact for reimbursement. You need to contact your public health insurer (which issued you your EHIC) back home for any cost reimbursements.
If healthcare in your country is completely free at the point of use, that doesn't mean it will be in Croatia, hence the previously mentioned very small copayments. It isn't entirely free at the point of use for Croatian citizens/residents with HZZO, so it won't be for a foreign EHIC holder either.
In the case of the chronically ill
If you're undergoing treatment for cancer such as chemotherapy, or you require oxygen therapy or dialysis, you can obtain all of this while in Croatia through your EHIC. You should bring all of the documentation and records of what treatment you need, why, and how much with you, and you should make an appointment with someone who will be responsible for your care in Croatia before arriving.
You are treated differently to those who simply need to use their EHIC to access emergency treatment for cuts, scrapes or a case of the runs. You will be able to access lifesaving treatment here, regardless of your health issues existing prior to your arrival.
For a detailed guide to navigating Croatian health insurance if you are moving to or already live in Croatia, make sure to check out this article.
Croatian Firefighters Underpaid, Issues with Staffing for Upcoming Season
April 4, 2023 - Croatian firefighters are preparing for a long and difficult fire season, and while the situation with equipment is getting better, now the problem is staffing because there are fewer and fewer seasonal firefighters.
"This year, we have registered four season workers who also worked last year. We still need two more, and we only have one driver. So, there is only one driver - how is he supposed to drive to all the sites for four months?" Matija Karlo Valinčić, head of DVD Vodice, told HRT, as reported by Index.
Monthly salary of 700 euros
Seasonal firefighters have a salary of 700 euros, and considering the job, that salary only attracts few people. It is even more difficult to find seasonal firefighters in the displaced hinterland.
"We usually need to prepare five or six workers for the season, but I don't know if those people will come to me by June 1st. If a better job comes up for them, people will go to a better job," says DVD commander Ervenik Sandro Kanazir.
"As tourism develops, as it increases and the financial situation gets better, the firefighting system suffers a lot," county fire chief Darko Dukić told HRT.
Tucaković: Wages should be increased
It will be necessary to solve staffing problems with more generous financing. "So, simply - by increasing salaries. And that we will certainly do - where necessary, we will carry out dislocations from the continent, transfer of forces, transfer of equipment - so that we can make and that our summer season be safe again", said chief fire chief Slavko Tucaković.
Firefighters say that even in the off-season, fewer and fewer young people are ready to work in the fire department. "In previous years, it was quite a large number, 200 - 250 new DVD members. Unfortunately, that number has dropped drastically. For example, this year, we have around seventy new DVD members," said Dukić.
Air Force Assistance
Due to last year's experience with large fires in the Šibenik area and Zadar, the firefighters say that they need as much help as possible from the Air Force.
"We are quite strong at the moment; it's just a question of how much of everything we will have available at a given moment. Because here - last year's fire could have been solved very quickly at the beginning if we had everything available," Dukić told HRT.
Meteorologists have announced extreme temperatures for this summer, which means more potential fires.
For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.
Zagreb Sisak Highway to be Completed by February 2024 Deadline
April 4, 2023 - Work on the construction of the last unbuilt section of the Zagreb Sisak highway, A11, from Lekenik to the Sisak intersection, with a length of 10.9 kilometers, is progressing well, so completion is expected in February next year, it was announced on Monday during the visit of members of the government to the construction site.
As 24Sata writes, in addition to the construction of the highway section to the Sisak junction, work is also underway on the connecting road to Sisak. The same goes for the Petrovec, Sela, and Greda overpasses and the Odran bridge at the entrance to Sisak.
The President of the Croatian Highways Administration, Branko Huzjan, informed the Deputy Prime Ministers, Oleg Butković and Tomo Medved, and the Minister of Planning, Construction and State Property, Branko Bačić, that about 50 percent of the earthworks have been completed, infrastructure facilities are being built on the section, and the access road to Sisak, and by all accounts, the planned completion date of February 2024 will be met.
So far, 36 of the planned 47.5 kilometers of highway have been built and are in operation. The contractors were put to work on the final section at the end of February 2022, with a deadline of two years. The total value of the works is around EUR 38.3 million, with expert supervision worth slightly more than half a million EUR. Six road crossings with overpasses and other infrastructure are currently being built on the highway. The work is carried out by the Business Association of Colas Croatia and Geotehnika.
Croatian Roads is working on the connecting road project from the Sisak junction to the entrance to the city. The project also includes a connecting road from the Staro Pračno roundabout to the Odra bridge and from the Odra bridge to the junction with Zagrebačka Street in Sisak, 3.2 kilometers in length.
The completion of the highway will represent a traffic and economic lifeblood not only in Sisak but also in the Banovina area. Namely, with the construction of the Žažina junction, part of the traffic will be directed towards the central and southern parts of the county, improving the road connection quality between Petrinja, Glina, and Topusko.
Minister Butković expressed his satisfaction with the dynamics of the works and mentioned that all the advantages of the new highway would be fully apparent in the next tourist season. Minister Medved called the highway a capital project for developing the entire Sisak-Moslavina County.
For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.
Zagreb Traffic Special Regulations due to €30 Million Project
April 4, 2023 - Zagreb traffic will follow special regulations in April due to a new project. The estimated project value is EUR 29.2 million, and the funds are fully provided by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
As Poslovni writes, part of the track at Zapadni kolodvor will be closed to traffic from April 6 to April 19 due to railway renovation, HŽ infrastructure announced on Monday.
During the reconstruction period on April 6 and 7, from April 11 to 14, and from April 17 to 19, trains will not run on the routes Zagreb GK - Zaprešić and vice versa, Zagreb GK - Savski Marof and vice versa, and Harmica - Zagreb GK and vice versa.
At the Kustošija stop, the platform on the left (southern) track will be used for the entry and exit of passengers.
From April 3 to 5, traffic will flow as usual, and the works will have less impact on traffic compared to the works carried out from March 20 to April 2, and minor delays are expected.
Special traffic regulations are coordinated with the dynamics of the works and are planned periodically until the completion of the works, which is expected in the middle of 2024.
The project "Renovation of the railway on the section Zagreb Zapadni kolodvor (included) - Zagreb Main Station (excluded)" is carried out on a short but one of the busiest sections in Croatia, through which about 150 trains pass in a day.
The renovation of the said section starts from the Kustošija stop, which was renovated last year, to the entrance to Zagreb Main Station.
The works include the complete renovation of the upper and lower track structure, the rehabilitation of bridges and the construction of culverts, the construction of landscaped areas for passenger access, work on signal-safety and telecommunication devices, the modernization of the "Vodovodna" and "Republic of Austria" railway-road crossings, as well as the renovation and replacement of part contact network system.
The estimated project value is EUR 29.2 million, and the funds are fully provided by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
Upon completion of the work on the project, trains will be able to travel at a speed of up to 120 km/h on that section, the level of safety and interoperability will be raised, and the throughput capacity of the railway will increase and the possibility of transporting a larger number of passengers in daily migration traffic.
For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.
Croatian Post Obtains 27 New Trucks as Part of Green Transformation
April the 4th, 2023 - Croatian Post (Hrvatska posta) has obtained 37 brand new trucks to carry out deliveries as part of the company's continued investment in doing ''greener'' business.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, a massive 2,717,474.40 euros (without VAT included) were invested in the purchase of these brand new trucks, and the price of the five-year contract includes maintenance costs, insurance costs and comprehensive Kasko insurance. The newly acquired trucks will replace similar vehicles obtained back in 2017 that have covered a total of 12.5 million kilometres since the beginning of the period of their use.
The new trucks that Croatian Post has obtained have engines that are characterised by reduced fuel consumption, they also have considerably lower maintenance costs and comply with the very strict Euro VI C environmental standards for the emission of harmful gases.
In line with the transformation of their business into a much more sustainable and ''green'' one, Croatian Post is continuing to modernise its entire vehicle fleet by purchasing vehicles that pollute the environment less and enable the more efficient transport of shipments and other types of cargo. Back at the beginning of this year, the biggest procurement cycle of electric vehicles was finally completed.
From October 2022 to January 2023, Croatian Post had its hands on 157 new electric vehicles, and for the first time, the company's delivery vans were included in the purchase. The postal green fleet now has more than 320 electric vehicles, including 114 vans and light delivery vehicles.
Along with the expansion of the green vehicle fleet, Croatian Post is also expanding its own network of charging stations for electric vehicles. So far, it has installed around 40 charging stations, and by the middle of this year there will be more than 80 of them dotted around the country. The charging stations will be located in as many as eighteen cities, from Osijek all the way down to Dubrovnik, which will ensure the prerequisites for expanding their fleet of electric vehicles throughout the Republic of Croatia.
For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.
Festigia Taste&Shop: Agrolaguna Opens New Tasting Room
April the 4th, 2023 - Festigia taste&shop, Agrolaguna's newest tasting room and store, has opened in Porec with the aim of further enriching the already enviable gastronomic and wine offer of the Istrian peninsula.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, last week, the brand new Agrolaguna tasting room and shop for the sale of Istrian cheeses, olive oils and wines was opened in Porec at Mate Vlasica 34. The new Festigia taste&shop concept will see Agrolaguna enrich the offer of eno-gastro tourism across Istria. The new store's opening was attended by Fabris Perusko, the CEO of the Fortenova Group, Sotiris Yannopoulos, the Executive Director of the Fortenova Group for the Food Business Area, Nerina Zec, the President of the Agrolaguna Management Board, Loris Persuric, the Mayor of Porec, and Boris Miletic, the Prefect of Istria County.
The newly opened Festigia taste&shop store will offer its customers and visitors a very wide large selection of top Festigia and Vina Laguna wines, Ol Istria olive oils and Spin Istrian cheeses. Thematic evenings and education about wine, oil and cheese will all also be organised in the tasting room. During consumption, guests and customers will be made intimately familiar with the entire process and experience of creating Agrolaguna's top products. The goal is for this shop and tasting room to also be a favourite meeting place for all gourmet lovers who appreciate local Istrian products.
"The complete renovation of this facility is an important part of the transformation of Agrolaguna into a modern producer of wine, oil and cheese, which is a change that the Fortenova Group supports both organisationally and through investment. The top quality of our products has been confirmed by numerous international awards, and bearing in mind the tourism potential of this entire region, with this new concept we're making a step forward in presenting what it has to offer, because as important as tourism is for the overall development of Istria, is equally important as a lever for the development of Agrolaguna.
It's our wish that the tasting room, as well as some other parts of the company, such as the vineyard or the cellar, become an indispensable point of the tourist offer of this region. In this way, the company is confirming its responsibility towards the environment, contributing to the construction of modern destination tourism, and at the same time developing a partnership relationship with the local community,'' said Fabris Perusko, Fortenova's CEO.
Nerina Zec, president of the Agrolaguna Management Board, also spoke on the occasion of the opening of the Festigia taste&shop store: "This new concept represents a great opportunity for us to showcase our long-term and new customers how much knowledge, experience and expertise we continue to invest in the production of high-quality, local Istrian products. Our new Festigia tasting room and store offers a unique shopping and tasting experience, which will enable all customers and visitors to get even closer to Istrian culture."
Boris Miletic, Istria County's prefect, spoke at the opening about the importance of promoting Istrian products and the county's wine and gastronomic offer, as did Loris Persuric, Porec's mayor: "Every city would be proud to have such a large manufacturer in its ranks, but it isn't only large, it's also of high quality. Olive oil, cheese, wine, all of these are products marked by their numerous awards for excellence. That's why I'd like to congratulate you for deciding to open a new tasting room and boutique today, because your products deserve it. I believe that this boutique will quickly become a favourite place for all those who want to take the taste of Porec and Istria back home with them. I'd also like to congratulate the people who create these products and I wish them much success in their future business."
The long-standing tradition of Agrolaguna connects a modern approach and the quality of local products; premium wines from 630 hectares of vineyards, extra virgin olive oils from more than 65,000 olive trees and hard cheeses produced exclusively from fresh domestic milk from Croatian farms. These are high-quality products, the quality of which is best demonstrated by numerous awards won at prestigious Croatian and international competitions, and it's precisely the new Festigia taste&shop store that will enable their better presentation and promotion.
For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.
SuperSport HNL 27th Round: Seven Points Separate Dinamo and Hajduk
April 3, 2023 - The SuperSport HNL 27th round was played from March 31 to April 2, 2023. The round of 1-1 draws also featured a crucial win for Hajduk, now just 7 points behind Dinamo in the first place.
Slaven Belupo - Istra 1961 (2-0)
Belupo and Istra opened the 27th round on Friday, March 31, in Koprivnica in front of 593 fans.
Mudrazija put Belupo ahead in the 39th minute for 1-0. Krstanovic made it 2-0 in the 73rd minute, which is how the game ended. Surprisingly, Belupo only had 35% possession during the match, but a total of 13 attempts on goal, five of which were on target.
Belupo is currently in 5th place with 36 points, while Istra is in 7th with 35. Belupo meets Varazdin next weekend, and Istra meets Hajduk.
Gorica - Dinamo (1-1)
Gorica and Dinamo met on Saturday, April 1, in Velika Gorica in front of 4,084 fans.
After a scoreless first half, Ljubicic put Dinamo ahead in the 60th minute for 0-1. Mitrovic equalized in the 85th minute for the final 1-1. Dinamo had 60% possession during the match and 14 total attempts, with four on target, while Gorica had 15 total attempts and seven on target.
Gorica is in last place with 17 points, while Dinamo is in first with 60. Gorica plays Osijek next, and Dinamo meets Lokomotiva.
Sibenik - Hajduk (2-3)
Sibenik and Hajduk met on Saturday, April 1, in Sibenik in front of 2,718 fans.
A goal from Livaja in the 45th minute made it 0-1 for Hajduk at halftime. Mlakar and Pukstas made it 0-3 for Hajduk by the 60th minute. Dolcek returned with a goal for 1-3 in the 63rd minute and Kvrzic for the final 2-3 in the 90th. Sibenik had 54% of possession and 13 total attempts compared to Hajduk's 14 total attempts and eight on target.
Sibenik is in 9th place with 24 points, while Hajduk is in 2nd with 53. Sibenik plays Rijeka next and Hajduk meets Istra.
Rijeka - Osijek (1-1)
Rijeka and Osijek met on Sunday, April 2, at Rujevica in front of 5,864 fans.
Frigan put Rijeka ahead in the 31st minute for 1-0. Zaper didn't equalize for Osijek until the match's final minute for 1-1. Rijeka had 47% possession compared to Osijek's 53%, while both sides had 14 total attempts on goal.
Rijeka is in 6th place with 35 points, while Osijek is in 3rd with 38. Rijeka plays Sibenik next and Osijek meets Gorica.
Lokomotiva - Varazdin (1-1)
Lokomotiva and Varazdin closed out the 27th round on Sunday, April 2, in Zagreb in front of 759 fans.
Gorican made it 1-0 in the 5th minute, and Puclin equalized in the 51st for the final 1-1. Lokomotiva had 58% of possession during the match with 20 total attempts, 11 of which were on target.
Lokomotiva is in 8th place with 33 points, while Varazdin is in 4th with 37. Lokomotiva plays Dinamo next and Varazdin meets Belupo.
You can check out the HNL table HERE.
To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.
Significant Number of People to Lose Croatian Health Insurance
April the 3rd, 2023 - A considerable number of individuals, 300,000 of them to be more precise, could end up losing their Croatian health insurance as a new law is now in force.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, a new law will fully enable the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (Croatian: HZZO) to ''clean up'' the records it holds of insured persons from so-called "fictitious" insured persons. Many such people with ''fictitious'' insurance have now left Croatia, got a job abroad and actually no longer have the right to access public Croatian health insurance. According to estimates by the health administration, that figure could total around 300,000 insured persons, writes Novi list.
Amendments to the Law on Compulsory Health Insurance have now entered into force, which prescribe the obligation for insured persons to report to their local HZZO office in person if they have reached the age of eighteen, terminated their employment, or served military service or a prison sentence. In the case of an application to the employment office, such reporting to HZZO offices is not necessary.
The obligation to report in person to HZZO in order to check the circumstances on the basis of which their Croatian health insurance status was determined (if they aren't registered in the records of unemployed persons of the Croatian Employment Service) is prescribed by new legal provisions for everyone after the age of eighteen, after the end of the school year in which they finished their mandatory education or after passing their final exam, or after the termination of an employment relationship.
According to the new law, all those who have just served military service and prisoners (after having been released from an institution for the execution of criminal and misdemeanor sanctions), as well as from a health or other specialised institution, such as a secure psychiatric hospital, must also report to HZZO.
The aforementioned categories of insured persons must report in person to the nearest HZZO office within 90 days from the date of entry into force of the Act, i.e. no later than June the 29th, 2023. If they don't want to remain without any Croatian health insurance, they will still have the obligation to come to HZZO in person once every three months, except for the times during which their names can be found in the records of unemployed persons at the Croatian Employment Service.
Those who do not fulfill their obligation within the prescribed period, i.e. by the end of June this year, and after that once every three months, will simply be deregistered from compulsory Croatian health insurance ex officio, without issuing any kind of special decision.
According to the new legal provisions, insured persons who have registered a temporary departure outside of Croatia can retain their Croatian health insurance until the end of June at the latest, and HZZO will deregister them from compulsory health insurance ex officio at the end of that period, and as stated above, they'll do so without issuing a decision.
These are mainly emigrants who have now left Croatia and gone to work abroad in the last decade, and yet they have remained on the list of insured persons at HZZO and occasionally use healthcare services when in Croatia. At the beginning of 2022, a comparison of the number of inhabitants in the last population census and the number of people who hold Croatian health insurance showed that there are 200,000 more people insured through HZZO compared to the total number of inhabitants in Croatia.
For more, check out our dedicated news section.
Croatian Tourist Agency Attacked by Hackers, Pay 500,000 USD Or Else...
April the 3rd, 2023 - One large Croatian tourist agency has unfortunately been the target of malicious malware, and the concerning thing is that there was very little help at hand through the police, the state institutions or even by insurance companies.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, Adriagate, a well known Croatian tourist agency, almost had 22 years of hard work disappear in just a few hours. This Split-based Croatian tourist agency, which deals with renting out private properties, had a close call with a cyber attack. On the night of January the 17th to the 18th this year, they suffered a hacker attack with an extortion of 500,000 dollars, in which 90 percent of their data from about 30 servers in Split and Zagreb was encrypted in a mere two hours, and about 50 applications crashed, as did their website, and their accounting data just disappeared. It is still not known who the perpetrator was.
The founders of the Adriagate agency, Igor Popovic and Toni Blaskovic, told this bizarre, almost cinematic story about how they managed to stop the attack and get their data back, and how much support they had from the appropriate institutions and infrastructure here in Croatia. They recalled their experience during the Days of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies (UHPA), held in Brela. Their testimony is valuable to the extent that at least fifteen members of the Association from this meeting recalled having suffered a similar attack, but chose to pay the demanded ransom and continue to work with the risk of a new attack - because, as is known, hackers come back. Here are more of the details.
"We have a monitoring system for our applications that notifies us when something isn't working properly. When I woke up, I saw that I'd received a message on my phone that our website had crashed and was unavailable. Well, that's nothing strange, so I went to make some coffee, and when I connected to the server with that coffee, I was greeted by a message from AvosLocker entitled "Get your files back". I quickly extinguished everything and for five hours everything remained off, but for three days we didn't know the extent of the damage done to us, because we didn't know if it would continue to work if the process was not completed. We reported the case to the police, we contacted data recovery companies from Croatia and Germany, we tried everything, but with this variant of this virus there is no solution except possibly just paying a ransom, but without any kind of guarantee," explained Blaskovic.
AvosLocker is a relatively new ransomware virus that has been active since 2021, and works by encrypting data with a ransom offer. This Croatian tourist agency first received a payment request in the amount of 500 thousand dollars, which was reduced to 250 thousand dollars after further communication with the hackers. In the end, Adriagate did not pay, because the general recommendation is not to pay in such situations.
"We started communicating with the hackers, but we didn't pay, but we managed to get the data back with our own resources. A criminal report has been filed, but only in 0.05 percent of cases are the perpetrators are found, and even then, they are very well protected. The last case from Germany shows this level, it was an attack in which the perpetrators were discovered but they were not even arrested, they were only detected and identified by Interpol. You're never sure that they aren't already there somewhere in the system and that they won't do it again. Now that we've been setting everything back up again, we set up the entire infrastructure in a totally different way, we put together a totally new system from the beginning on new servers with completely different protection,'' added Blaskovic.
"There's always a risk that you pay a large amount without having any guarantee that the data will be returned to you, and we were afraid about how we'd manage to pay such a large amount through the company, how the tax administration would look at it, they would also accuse us of embezzlement from our own company,'' said Popovic. It should also be noted that this type of attack requires payment in crypto-currencies that must be purchased beforehand, there are no legal channels to do this and the hackers are completely protected.
Since the accounting data is also encrypted in these cases, the attacked company will also be late with reporting their obligations to the relevant state institutions. In addition to that, it seemed to Adriagate that the Croatian police don't really have a lot of resources or experience in dealing with this type of crime, which has become more and more common with ongoing digitalisation. Adriagate pointed out that even Croatian insurers don't have policies for protection on offer for such cases, unlike in some other countries where this is understood as a relatively common issue.
For more, check out our dedicated news section.
