Albania breaks diplomatic relations with Iran due to a cyberattack

• Albania has severed diplomatic ties with Iran and ordered Iranian embassy staff to leave.
• Staff was target of accusations for orchestrating a major cyber-attack.
• Prime Minister Edi Rama said a probe had found “incontrovertible evidence” that Iran hired four groups to mount the attack on Albania.

Iranian embassy personnel have been told to leave, and Albania has severed diplomatic ties with Iran after accusing it of planning a significant cyberattack.

The investigation, according to Prime Minister Edi Rama, “discovered indisputable evidence” that Iran “hired four gangs to mount the attack on Albania” on July 15.

According to him, the hackers also attempted to cause disruption, shut down government operations, and steal and destroy data.

Albania’s response, according to Mr. Rama, was “severe… but absolutely forced on us.”

The United States vowed to hold Iran responsible for activities that jeopardised Albania’s security and “established a disturbing precedent for cyber-space” and strongly denounced the cyberattack on a Nato partner.

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In a statement shown on television, Mr. Rama claimed that the hacking groups’ objectives had been “the destruction of the Republic of Albania’s government’s digital infrastructure, as well as the theft of data and electronic communications from government networks.”

But he also said: “The aforementioned attack’s intended outcome was unsuccessful… Data wasn’t permanently erased, and all systems returned to full functionality.”

However, the prime minister claimed that the diplomatic break between Albania and Iran was “proportionate to the intensity and risk posed by the cyber-attack.”

Speaking on behalf of the US National Security Council, Adrienne Watson stated that American specialists had likewise come to the conclusion that Iran was “responsible for subsequent hack and leak operations” and that it “conducted this reckless and irresponsible cyber-attack.”

She emphasised that Iran’s actions “disregard principles of acceptable peacetime state behaviour in cyberspace,” such as the prohibition against causing harm to vital infrastructure supporting public services.

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