TIRANA, July 18 /ATA/ The Prime Minister’s office assured all citizens today that the data of govt. services’ information systems are secure and intact, after the cyberattack.
In a press release, the Prime Minister’s Office clarifies that “there is no room for political controversy as long as we are facing a common enemy in this cyber war, so let the experts do their work so that any system that is recovered is functional and above all safe.”
The Prime Minister’s office states that “on Friday noon the cyber security software tools set up for government systems and infrastructures detected a complex and large-scale cyber- attack. Following response protocols, government infrastructures and systems were isolated to ensure data protection. The methods used by the malicious actors are similar to last year’s attacks observed in international cyberspace. The techniques this attack employed are the same in 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 of the region.”
“Only in Ukraine this year there have been 5 attacks using the same methodology, while in Germany the same type of attack has disabled wind power plants. These methods are first disguised as Ransomware-type attacks, by which the criminals seek to divert attention from the real goal, which is to attack critical systems. The second step of this concentrated and sophisticated attack is targeting the critical digital systems of the Albanian state in order to knock them out,” the Prime Minister’s Office underlines.
Fortunately, the Prime Minister’s Office says, thanks to the detection and quick response to these attacks the government systems came out intact.
“As soon as this attack was detected, AKSHI has been cooperating closely with our Microsoft partners through their best cyber experts of Detection and Response to Incidents (DART team). Also, the experts of “Jones Group International” are here to address the situation and return to normal as soon as possible. Government systems are all backed up and secure. At this moment, we are verifying system by system so that the latter are secure in every element, before they come back online and in full operation.”
“At the same time, all institutional actors are on full alert and in constant communication for an in-depth investigation of this cybercrime,” the Prime Minister’s Office concluded.
/sm/
