TIRANA, July 19, 2022 – Albanian authorities say cyber attackers were unable to penetrate systems and sensitive data during the massive attack on Albanian state digital infrastructure over the weekend that forced the government to take its main citizen services portal, e-Albania, offline.
In a statement, the government explained that despite the fact that it was a “complex and large-scale attack,” following response protocols, “the isolation of government infrastructures and systems was carried out to guarantee data protection.”
According to the statement, “the rapid detection and response to these attacks allowed government systems to emerge intact. These systems have all back-ups and are safe. At this moment, we are verifying system by system so that the latter are safe in every element, before they come back online and in full functionality,” the government statement noted, assuring the citizens that “the data of the information systems of government services are safe and intact.”
According to the official version, “the methods on which the malicious actors have acted are similar to the attacks of the last year, observed in international cyberspace. The techniques on which this attack relies are of the same nature as those used for a number of recent cyber attacks on government and private domains, such as in Ukraine, Germany, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Belgium and other countries.
Prime Minister Edi Rama wrote on Twitter that: “the counter-offensive of AKSHI (National Information Society Agency) and allies in the face of cyber aggression against Albania is proving stable and successful. The aggressor has not managed to collapse the defense system and is retreating! If we don’t have any other surprises, the services will be restored very soon.”
A day earlier, authorities had announced that the country’s critical online services were under an “unprecedented massive cyber attack, synchronized and sophisticated from outside Albania.”
President Ilir Meta said he was unhappy with the speed of the reaction given that the e-Albania system, through which citizens and businesses receive most public services was yet to come back to full functionality, after it was taken offline to protect it.
“Repeatedly even in the meetings of the National Security Council before the aggression against Ukraine, I requested the taking of all measures to increase cyber security, to prevent such events. This situation, in the context of internal and international developments, burdens even more and compromises the functioning of the state, in all aspects, where especially the citizens are the ones who suffer the consequences the most,” President Meta said in a statement, calling for “immediate, serious and responsible measures to be taken, mobilizing the highest level of professional expertise to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and bring the situation under control, to ensure that such events do not recur. in the future.”
