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Governor of Albania: Banks are under constant attacks

2024-10-30 19:15:00, Aktualitet CNA

The governor of the Bank of Albania, Gent Sejko, said that cyber attacks on the banking system have intensified.

During the statement before the Commission against disinformation and foreign interference, he explained the nature of these attacks and where they come from.

"Attacks are of different natures. Attacks related to obtaining data and hacking bank accounts. It cannot be easily determined where they come from. One of the confirmed cases was found to have come from Iran. It was a strong cyber attack against a bank that did not compromise the accounts, but the data. It was managed, but we learned lessons and it made us be ready and organize more work against cyber attacks", said Sejko.

The governor said that the continuous attacks have made it necessary to take some measures to protect against these attacks. for this reason, it has cooperated with the US Department of the Treasury.

"We have taken ongoing measures to protect our systems from these attacks, both in relation to IT and payment circulation systems. With the assistance of the US Department of the Treasury, we have prepared a regulation for protection against cyber attacks. The regulation will be approved at the next meeting of the Supervisory Council", emphasized Sejko while reporting to the commission.

He said that the regulation envisages taking organized measures that are standard for both the Central Bank and those of the second level. Sejko also emphasized that inspections have been carried out in 11 banks for the protection system and an assessment of the measures they have undertaken has been made.

In 2022, the Albanian authorities, but also the international ones, had accused Iran of being behind the cyber attacks carried out in July against the critical governmental infrastructure of Albania. Tirana then severed diplomatic relations with Tehran and expelled Iranian diplomats from Cyprus.

The chairman of the Commission against disinformation and foreign interference, Erion Braçe, asked the governor if there is foreign interference in non-banking financial institutions.

The governor admitted that this sector has expanded, but that the analysis that has been done has not resulted in any of them having beneficial owners originating from countries not related to Albania. Some media had written that some institutions of this sector had Russian origins, but Sejko considered this as disinformation.

Brace emphasized a phenomenon that was observed after the start of the war by Russia against Ukraine in 2022, when various companies moved to the countries of the European Union. He said that the countries bordering Russia have increased vigilance and requested that the Bank of Albania be on high alert to verify suspicious cases.

The same questions and concerns were raised in relation to real estate, but the governor of Albania, Sejko, said that so far there has been an increase in this sector by non-resident citizens and immigrants and emphasized that control over the beneficial owners will be increased.

Even for foreign investments, the governor said that there have been no cases where capital can come from countries not related to Albania.

The MPs asked for an improvement in the security climate of the financial system and continuous analysis for all operators in the market. They observed that, unfortunately, the control over foreign or strategic investments is only formal.

"We must build a control system by law in order that our open and competitive economy is not infected by capital originating from unfriendly countries. We must be on the alert for this," Braçe said.

The Assembly approved the establishment of the Commission against Disinformation and Foreign Interventions in April of this year. The opposition has not accepted to become part of this commission. Opposition MPs have raised concerns about the clarity and purpose of the commission and have emphasized the need for transparency.

The European Union office in Albania has declared that it will technically support, with a group of experts from EU member countries, the special commission against disinformation. The European ambassador, Silvio Gonzato, said that the work of the special commission should not infringe on the freedom of the media./REL