Albania Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Iran Over July Cyberattack (apnews.com) 23
Albania cut diplomatic ties with Iran and expelled the country's embassy staff over a major cyberattack nearly two months ago that was allegedly carried out by Tehran on Albanian government websites, the prime minister said Wednesday. From a report: The move by Albania, a NATO country, was the first known case of a country cutting diplomatic relations over a cyberattack. The White House vowed unspecified retaliation Wednesday against Iran for what it called "a troubling precedent for cyberspace." In a statement, the White House said it has had experts on the ground for weeks helping Albania and had concluded Iran was behind the "reckless and irresponsible" attack and subsequent hack-and-leak operation.
The government's decision was formally delivered to the Iranian Embassy in Tirana, the capital, in an official note, Prime Minister Edi Rama said. All embassy staff, including diplomatic and security personnel, were ordered to leave Albania within 24 hours. On July 15, a cyberattack temporarily shut down numerous Albanian government digital services and websites. Rama said an investigation determined that the cyberattack wasn't carried out by individuals or independent groups, calling it "state aggression."
The government's decision was formally delivered to the Iranian Embassy in Tirana, the capital, in an official note, Prime Minister Edi Rama said. All embassy staff, including diplomatic and security personnel, were ordered to leave Albania within 24 hours. On July 15, a cyberattack temporarily shut down numerous Albanian government digital services and websites. Rama said an investigation determined that the cyberattack wasn't carried out by individuals or independent groups, calling it "state aggression."
And albanians retaliated... (Score:3)
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And the whack-a-doodles come out from under their rocks...
What does this actually do? (Score:1)
Seems like this is a bunch of symbolism, but what does kicking the Iranian ambassador and staff out actually mean? It isn't like Iran really cares, or there will be actual consequences. Iran has been proxy-bombing Israel for decades, and nothing has happened to Tehran in retaliation other than 1-2 people getting snuffed out. It is amazing they have not mined the Strait of Hormuz just for shits and giggles. Hell, they even ran the US out of the Middle Eastern theater.
Motive? (Score:3)
Why would Iran attack Albania (even just in cyber space)? Is this just an instance of Sunni vs Shia dick swinging?
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Because it's easy. Bullies don't pick on the strong kids.
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The people who allocate resources need more than "it's easy", they need a benefit to justify the cost. What benefit did Iran get out of this?
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Dry run for future bigger targets.
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Boundary-pushing and response evaluation. How does NATO respond politically? How does NATO respond technically? NATO has suggested that cyberattack might trigger Article 5, but nobody expects war with Iran over this. It's a learning exercise.
It might not be Iran... (Score:2)
It might be Serbia... or Russia...
Or Iran helping one of the above as part of some deal...
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So, forwarded through a compromised Iranian server or VPN? If I were Iran, with any concern for my global reputation, I'd have worked with the Albanians to clean the mess up and track down the miscreants responsible. Otherwise, it came through their systems. It's their problem.
Like how we went after Afghanistan for hosting al Qaida.
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I see endless attacks on my servers coming from every country on the internet. I don't hold the US government personal for attacks coming from VPNs in the US. Literally anyone could be behind it.
Re: It might not be Iran... (Score:1)
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Because they know that NATO is not going to war over Albania. It is to show that not all NATO members are created equal.
If we wanted to carry out a few retaliatory strikes against Iran we could do so trivially and there is not much they could do about it.
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If we wanted to carry out a few retaliatory strikes against Iran we could do so trivially and there is not much they could do about it.
Then Iran would mine the Hormuz straight, oil price would skyrocket, and things would get even more complicated.
Various ways to look at this (Score:1)
First, I'm not keen on ANY nation committing cyberattacks on other nations, under ANY pretext. It's untargeted warfare in which the innocent get hurt, and it should be classed as a crime. So if Iran is guilty of this, then Iran needs to face the music. But we know Russia and America have also committed cyberattacks against civilian targets. This is one reason I hold that the Internet should be placed under the control of a wholly neutral international body and NOT under the control of any nation. You can't
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then Iran needs to face the music
The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice has banned music in Iran.
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Wrong country. That's Saudi Arabia. Iran does have the Guidance Patrol for policing clothing. But I don't think there's anything similar for music. un-Islamic or foreign music is banned, but there's really no one policing it below the radio/TV level.
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It was the MAGA white extremists I tell ya /s (Score:2)
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Maybe get some independent group to investigate instead.
Unspecified retaliation? (Score:2)