Albanian Parliament and telco ‘One Albania’ suffer cyber attacks

The Assembly of the Republic of Albania and telecom company One Albania have recently fallen victim to cyber attacks, according to the country’s National Authority for Electronic Certification and Cyber Security (AKCESK). The agency revealed this information earlier this week, highlighting that these infrastructures are not currently classified as critical or important information infrastructure under the current legislation.

One Albania, which boasts nearly 1.5 million subscribers, took to Facebook on December 25 to address the security incident. The company assured its customers that it had successfully managed the situation without any issues, emphasizing that its services, including mobile, landline, and IPTV, remained unaffected.

AKCESK further disclosed that the intrusions did not originate from Albanian IP addresses. However, the agency was able to identify potential cases in real time. It has since been focusing its efforts on identifying the source of the attacks, recovering compromised systems, and implementing security measures to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future. The agency also stated that the incident has prompted a review and strengthening of its cybersecurity strategies.

The exact scale and scope of the attacks are currently unknown. However, an Iranian hacker group known as Homeland Justice claimed responsibility for the cyber attacks on its Telegram channel. In addition to targeting the Assembly of the Republic of Albania and One Albania, the group also claimed to have hacked the flag carrier airline, Air Albania. In a message posted on its website on December 24, Homeland Justice stated that it is “back to destroy supporters of terrorists,” accompanied by various tags including #albania, #albaniahack, #CyberAttacks, #mek, #MKO, #ncri, #NLA, #pmoi, and #Terrorists.

This incident follows a similar attack on Albanian government services in mid-July 2022, which Homeland Justice also claimed responsibility for. As a result of those attacks, the U.S. government imposed sanctions on Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and its Minister of Intelligence, Esmail Khatib, for engaging in cyber-enabled activities against the U.S. and its allies.

It is important to note that the information provided in this article is based on the statement released by AKCESK and the claims made by Homeland Justice. The investigation into the cyber attacks is still ongoing, and further details may emerge as the situation develops.

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