TIRANA, Feb 2 /ATA/ Albania and Israel signed on Wednesday, February 1, a memorandum of understanding between the parties on cybersecurity in Tel Aviv.
The memorandum of understanding was signed by Gaby Portnoy, Director General of Israel’s Cyber Directorate and Igli Tafa, Director General of the National Authority for Electronic Certification and Cyber Security.
This memorandum is intended to strengthen Albania’s defense capacities after being targeted by Iranian hackers since July of last year.
The memorandum also provides for the mutual sharing of information between Israel and Albania.
This development came on the second day of an international conference, held in Tel Aviv, which focused on cyber security.
The General Director of Israel’s Cyber Directorate, Gaby Portnoy, outlined how Albania will be assisted in safeguarding against cyberattacks.
Portnoy said that a cyber defense dome will be built in Albania that will be connected to the dome in Israel.
“We are open to cooperation. In fact it is an obligation. We face the same enemies and the same challenges. We must safeguard the democratic world. If we manage to have a broad defense then this will heighten the safeguarding in the cyber field. It is not the same as physical protection. We are dealing with cyberspace, so we have to come up with a different approach. It has no borders as in the case of Albania. It is the same proximity as with our neighbor Jordan. We should think so. We are ready to share with you what we know about cyber security. We signed a memorandum this morning and are ready to share everything. From technology, methodology, processes, regulatory aspects. We will build a cyber defense dome in Albania and connect it to our dome. This is the plan,” he said.
“This MoU has reaffirmed Albania’s excellent relations with Israel even after the formation of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. A meeting between Israeli chief diplomat Eli Cohen and Prime Minister Edi Rama in Davos was further proof of this. Cohen announced at the time that the parties agreed on cooperation in three main areas.
I thanked him for the important decision to sever ties with Iran, the world’s number one exporter of terrorism.
I also thanked him for his support towards Israel and the fight against anti-Semitism. We agreed to promote cooperation mainly in the field of security, defense and cybernetics and to strengthen the ties between the countries,” he emphasized.
The previous government of Yair Lapid agreed at the end of October that it would assist Albania in the cyber war against Iran, as the latter is a common enemy of public security.
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