A ransomware attack that took place on July 15th of this year disrupted most of the government’s IT infrastructure in Albania, including utility websites. For this reason, the Albanian government issued a 24 hours time frame on September 7th,2022 to all Italian embassy diplomats and high-profile citizens to vacate the country on an immediate note.
Edi Rama, the Albanian Prime Minister, issued this statement from the Tirana Capital and added that all diplomatic ties with Iran will remain severed till further notification.
Security analysts suggest that such public statements will be needed more in the near future, as some countries are taking down their adversaries through cyber aggression.
John Hultquist, the VP of Mandiant, applauded the decision taken by Albania against a state funded cyber attack and appreciated the courage with which Mr. Rama dealt with the situation.
Iran has condemned the allegations put forward by the Albanian Prime Minister as totally baseless and false.
Conversely, the United States and United Kingdom have deeply condemned the attack and added that it will hold Iran as fully accountable for the digital invasion it conducted on a NATO ally.
NOTE- The decision to cut down diplomatic ties with Iran was issued by the PM, after the Albanian National Agency for the Information Society(AKSHI) conducted a detailed analysis on the state that launched the cyber attack. And AKSHI claims that it has appropriate evidence to confirm its allegations.
