July 19, 2022

Albanian gov networks shut down after massive cyberattack

Albania suffered a massive cyber attack over the weekend, the government confirmed on July 18. A synchronized criminal attack from abroad hit the servers of the National Agency for Information Society (AKSHI), which handles many government services.

Most of the desk services for the citizens were interrupted, and only several important services, such as online tax filing, are still working because they are provided by servers not targeted in the cyberattack.

The attack came from outside the country and forced the closure of a number of official websites, such as that of the Prime Minister's Office, of the country's Parliament, and the public service governmental portal e-Albania.

The e-Albania website currently serves a variety of previously active civil state offices, which is used by the majority of Albanian citizens and foreigners.

According to AKSHI’s, they are currently collaborating with the Microsoft team, the Jones Group International team, and the teams of Albanian companies in the ICT field to stop further damage to the country’s systems.

Albania has suffered a variety of cyber-related incidents over the last two years, including data leaks from official institutions.

In the same time data of thousands of customers leaked after the Lithuanian ad website alio.lt was hit by a cyber attack last week.