Five information technology employees at Albania’s Department of Public Administration are under investigation by the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office for abuse of duty about cyber attacks waged on the country by Iran.
The cyber attack took place in July and September and brought all online government services to a halt causing significant problems for businesses, individuals and state functions. Since then, the hackers have periodically released data from the hack, including communications, wiretaps, and data on the movements of politicians and officials.
The individuals are accused of failing to take action to protect government websites from attack, in particular administrator.al which was the access point for the Iranian hackers.
“If these employees would have acted in accordance with the instructions of the Information Security Regulation no. 337/1 prot., dated 17.01.2022, and the Internal Regulation of AKSHI by requesting information and updating with the latest antiviruses of the system, then the virus that first entered the administration would have been discovered in their systems .al in order to make it possible to neutralise it without affecting the ANA system,” the prosecutor’s office said.
Following the revelation of the hack by Iran, Albania suspended all diplomatic ties and expelled Iranian diplomats from the country, closing the embassy in the process.
Prime Minister Edi Rama announced in September, “In cooperation with specialised digital anti-terrorist partner agencies, it was first discovered that the 15 July cyber attack on Albania was state aggression. The in-depth investigation provided indisputable evidence that the Islamic Republic of Iran sponsored the aggression.”
He added that the government has irrefutable evidence that the Iranian government carried out the evidence by groups that have also attacked Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus.
“We have informed our strategic allies, NATO, and shared irrefutable results. The Council of Ministers has decided with immediate effect the termination of diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran”, he said.
Iran denied any involvement in the ongoing matter.
“As one of the countries that have been subject to cyber attacks on its critical infrastructure, the Islamic Republic of Iran opposes and condemns any use of cyberspace as a means to attack the infrastructure of other countries,” an Iranian spokesman said.
He added that Albania had been influenced by third parties who support terrorism, referring to the US and Israel.
According to the prosecutor’s office, “these people, with their inactions, have brought serious consequences”.
