Albanian National Security Council convenes over Iran cyber attacks

The Albanian President Bajram Begaj called a meeting of the National Security Council in Tirana on Monday, with senior government officials in attendance, to discuss matters related to the ongoing cyberattacks against state infrastructure by Iran.

Over the weekend, the Homeland Justice Telegram channel, which has served as an outlet for leaked material from the attacks published reams of data relating to employees of the State Police. This included names, personal information and photographs.

The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Edi Rama, Prosecutor General Olsjan Çela, Director General of Police Muhamet Rrumbullaku, Chairman of the Security Commission Nasip Naço, and senior intelligence officials.

Little information has been given about the meeting, which took more than two hours, but Finance Minister Delina Ibrahimaj gave some details during an unrelated press conference.

“In fact, it is the role of the president to call the national security committee on various issues. We discussed the current issues of cyber attacks. Each institution reported on the measures taken, on the level of impact and on the measures that will be taken in the future to cope with the situation”, she said.

Last week, data on wanted police subjects was published, including their ID number, age, name, and photo, but no information about suspected crimes was included. This led to fears the MEMEX system, otherwise known as the Criminal Information Management System, had been hacked.

In a reaction, the state police denied the data from the MEMEX system, insisting that sensitive data related to police work has not been affected or damaged.

In July and September, Albanian government digital services were attacked by cyber criminals, bringing various systems to a halt for days. It was later found to have been the work of Iran which led to the severing of diplomatic ties and the closure of the embassy in Tirana.

The National Security Council was last convened by former president Ilir Meta on 14 February 2022 due to Russia-Ukraine tensions.