Albania cuts ties with Iran

Back in July, the government websites of #Albania were knocked offline. Last month, security company Mandiant researchers revealed that Iranian hackers, working on behalf of #Tehran, were **likely **to be behind the attacks, which took out public services for hours. “These are disruptive attacks, which affect the lives of everyday Albanians who live within the #NATO alliance,” John Hultquist, Mandiant’s vice president of intelligence, told #WIRED when it published its findings.

This week, the government of Albanian took the unprecedented step to cut diplomatic ties with #Iran, accusing it of launching the #cyberattack. The country also ordered Iranian embassy staff to leave the country. “The deep investigation put at our disposal undeniable evidence that the cyberattack against our country was orchestrated and sponsored by the Islamic Republic of Iran which had involved four groups for the attack on Albania,” prime minister Edi Rama said in a statement. (Microsoft conducted the investigation for the Albanian government.)

While Iran denies the attack, the US National Security Council also said it concluded Iran was behind the attack. In a further response, the #US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security and minister for intelligence. “Iran’s cyberattack against Albania disregards norms of responsible peacetime State behavior in cyberspace, which includes a norm on refraining from damaging critical infrastructure that provides services to the public,” said Brian Nelson, the undersecretary of the Treasury for #Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

https://www.wired.com/story/la-school-district-ransomware-albania-iran-security-roundup